More then freedom
by Cosmic Guardian
Summary: Fighting for one's own freedom is difficult, but creating salvation for all can mean so much more. Everyone has their inner demons, some are closer to the surface. When they appear we all must make a choice. Fight them back down or give in and embrace them.
1. Getting cought

Chapter. 1

"Get away from me you drone!" A teen boy shouted as was being chased by for four men in tan trench coats. The teen had dark brown hair and brown eyes. He wore a dean jacket over a yellow shirt and jeans with holes in the knees with black boots.

The teen ran through destroyed buildings in the ruins of LA. He dove into a building and climbed up to the second floor. As the men was catching up He leap to another building, he saw a rod jetting out of the main pillar of the building.

Just then the men arrived and held out assault rifles. The teen dove and grabbed a hold of a rod then hung with a wall of cement between the teen and the men's bullets. The teen heard the men stop to reload the resume firing. They stopped again and the teen could hear them leaving.

As the men ran down the stairs the teen stood ion the rod and leaped to the rods ahead of him and used them as stepping stones. Once the teen was a few blocks away from the men the teen stopped at an eight story building.

The teen climbed into the building to its highest floor to find his hideout, a medium sized room with boxes of stolen supplies. The teen opened one of the boxes and a red rope with thorns wrapped around his body and pulled him away.

The teen was dragged across the room to the other side. He saw a heeled boot coming towards him and rolled out of its way and back to his feet.

Standing before the teen was a woman in a red trench coat with the lower right side of the coat was missing to show the woman's leg. She had green hair with a small black hat on and amber eyes behind a set of glasses. Strapped to her back were two black cases A red rope with thorns was wrapped around her right arm.

"Connar Vanith! You think you can steal from our panopticon and get away with it?"

"About time they sent someone real after me. What was that, the fourteenth time I got away from your bots?"

The woman waved her hand over the two cases and sword formed in her hand. As she swung her new weapon the teen now known as Connar grabbed the woman by her wrist and and hit her in the throat with his elbow.

As she fell back Connar took the sword away and brought it down on her. The woman waved her over her cases again, this time conjuring a sniper rifle. She raised the gun to block the sword and kicked Connar in the chest to push him back.

Connar hurled the sword at the woman, she held out her gun and stopped the sword. She lowered her gun and held out her right arm. The rope on her arm unraveled and latched on to Connar. The woman pulled on the rope and hurled Connar into the roof then back to the ground.

Connar laid on the ground coughing as the woman stood over him. "Your free ride is over worm."

"Go to hell." The woman kicked Connar in the head to knock him out.

...

Connar awake to find the world had a purple tint. "Oof! She got you good!" Standing over Connar was a girl in a grey sleeveless hoody her eyes were light green, her bottom right eyelid was larger then normal. She had blond hair in rings out of the sides of her hood over a black ball cap, black sleeves that didn't connect to the hoody. long socks, the left was grey and the right was black with black boots. "Yep looks like it."

"Where am I?"

"Welcome to the immaterial plane!" The girl held her hand out and spun around to see everything around her. "The magical, mystical realm between life and death!"

"Wait am I died?" Connar pushed himself up to his feet.

"No. You're in between them. You'll wake up soon."

"Well that's nice."

The girl smiled. "Hmph. In a bit of a bad mood, are we?"

"I just got my ass kicked by the lap dog. If I'm not dead it's worse."

"I suppose that's understandable..." The girl took a few steps way and turned back to Connar. "I'm Aries. Aries M. And you are?"

"I'm Connar Vanith." Aries held a finger to her chin as she examined Connar. "Are you checking me out or something?"

"Hmm... Yeah, I like it! Nice name! And you don't look... Too bad either!"

"Thanks?"

"You're lucky you can see me, you know..."

"What's that mean?"

"It means there's something very, very important you have to do. And I think you might really be able to do it, you know!"

Connar tilted his head and folded his arms. "And what is this 'thing' you want he to do?"

"You can bring this fighting to an end, and bring about the great transformation. And put an end to people's suffering and pain!" Aries smiled to Connar again. "Assuming you want to do all that, of course."

Connar let out a smirk. "How am I suppose to do that? You want me to fix a problem that's been around for as long as anyone can remember."

Aries looked around as the world began to shift. "Looks like it's wakey-wakey time. Oh! Before you go! I can't believe I almost forgot!"

"What?"

"You're gonna meet her soon. And when you do, you have to help her."

"Who is it?"

"Helping her will be the first step on your journey towards the great transformation."

"Wait! I need more then that! Who is this girl?"

"See you soon, okay? Bye for now!" The world faded into white.

Connar awake and sat up. He looked around to find himself in a small room with grey cells and a large green screen that completely covered one of the walls. "Well this is just great." Connar stood up and went to the door.

Red lights flashed in the room, and a message appeared on the large screen that read 'ten year penalty' then vanished.

A tone played in the room and a bear "Good morning, sinner! Wakey-wakey, rise and shine!" On the screen a bear a appeared with a white face, wearing a blue hat, wristband, a black tie and held a microphone. "Today is the first day of your new life as a productive member of your society!"

"The hell are you?!" Connar backed away to the other side of the cell.

"I'm Percy Propa! You've been very naughty, you know. In the middle of a vital operation, you've been stealing from our panopticon. But lucky for you, all you have to do is take part in the reeducation initiative and start again from code one! Oh, and have a sentence of one million years! Okay with you!"

"No!" Another message appeared on the screen stating one million years were added.

"That's the spirit!"

"I didn't accept!"

The bear didn't listen. "You've just taken your first step on the road to becoming a productive, meaningful member of the most ideal society in the whole wide world! Now, let's crack on with the reeducation, shall we? Oh! Hold on a second! You'll need an accessory."

"No I don't need that."

"Our panopticon is nothing if not unfailingly generous! Introducing your brand new Fudaemonic Facilitation Unit! You'd better make sure you obey it's every command. Or else!"

"If only you were real." Connar adjusted ends of his sleeves.

"Never forget! Your accessory is panopticon property. You've been issued it on the understanding that you will honor, obey and be nice to it at all times! Now, for the future joy and prosperity of your panopticon, it's time to get out there and give it your all! For the greater good!"

The bear disappeared and the cell door opened. A man stepped inside, he wore the same trench coat as the ones that chased him earlier. he had bright blue eyes and black hair.

"What do you want?"

"Scan complete. Confirming Utopedia data match... Confirmed. Cell occupant is an officially registered sinner belonging to this panopticon. Initiating self-introduction protocol."

"I don't want to hear what you have to say robot."

"Greeting,. I am your accessory. I shall be your constant companion. It is a pleasure to meet you." Connar glared at the accessory. "Preparing to launch reeducation initiative. Commence operation?"

Connar threw a punch at the machine. The accessory caught Connar's fist and swung him into the wall, pressing its arm against Connar's chest.

"You are a sinner. You are guilty of the most serious infringement of the people's charter: being an unproductive drain on resources. For this crime, you have been sentenced to one million years of penal servitude. You will not be free until you have served or worked off this sentence in its entirety. Utopedia is a central database where all information pertaining to this panopticon is stored. My role as your accessory is to relay information on your behavior to the database, allowing your personal data to be kept up to date."

Connar struggled against the accessory. He threw another punch but the accessory grabbed his arm. "Let go of me!"

"I will continue to do so until you cease to exist. You are not permitted to take your own life. You are not permitted to refuse to serve your panopticon. You are not permitted to sleep lying down. You are not permitted to speak of or think about the future. You are not permitted to do anything that you have not been explicitly granted the right to do."

"Screw you!" Connar pushed against the accessory but was shoved back.

"I am required to subject you to continuous surveillance in order to ensure that you do not violate these, or any other, rules. Welcome to the panopticon."


	2. Speed training

Chapter. 2

Connar stood in his cell, looking around for anything he could use to breakout. He turned to the door when he heard footsteps on metal getting closer.

The cell door opened, letting a man in a tan trench coat and blue hair walk in. This one didn't wear the big visor, letting Connar see his orange eyes. "Scan compete. Confirming utopedia data match... Confirmed. Cell occupant in an officially registered sinner belonging to this panopticon."

"Stupid machines." Muttered Connar.

"Initiating self-introduction protocol... Greetings, I am your accessory. I shall be your constant companion. It is a pleasure to meet you."

"Sawd off."

"Preparing to launch education initiative... Commence operation?"

"Fine, if it'll get me outside."

A loud beep came from the accuracy. "You are a sinner. You are guilty of the most serious infringement of the people's charter: being an unproductive drain on resources. For this crime you have been sentenced to one million year of penal servitude."

"Funny, you get a million year sentence for existing!"

"You will not be free until you have served or worked off this sentence in it entirely." Connar punched the accessory but it caught his hand, the accessory shoved Connar against the wall, pinning him with its arm on his chest. "You are required to make amends for your crimes. Until you have done so, you will not be grated freedom."

Connar looked at all the cameras in the top corners of the cell then back to the accessory. "You are not permitted to escape. You are not permitted to take your own life. You are not permitted to refuse to serve your panopticon. You are not permitted to sleep lying down. You are not permitted to speak of or think about the future. You are not permitted to do anything you have not been explicitly granted the right to do. I am required to subject you to continuous surveillance in order to ensure that you do not violate these, or any other, rules."

The accessory released Connar and stepped back. "Welcome to the panopticon."

"You mean welcome to hell." Connar straighten out his jacket. "You want me to fight in your pointless, endless war right? Then let's get started."

"You will now be transferred to the training facility. Be aware that code 1 sinners are permitted visual stimulation beyond the walls of their cells and the field of battle." The accessory handed Connar a visor.

"You're kidding me, right?" The machine stared at him. "Thought so." The new sinner took the item and put it on.

...

After some blind waking Connar was lead to the training ground, there the accessory put two black cases on his back and a red spiked rope on his right arm. "These are your will'o cases and thorn. The cases are used to store your weapons and any you find in the field, your thorn will help you move around."

"Don't I feel special?" A door opened and Connar walked in.

When Connar heard his accessory say go je took off in a dead run, the first room held nothing so he just dashed to the other side. In the next room there was a small wall, Connar jumped over it and moved to the next.

This time he was boxed in by a ten feet tall wall in front of him and on both sides of him the walls looked to be three times higher. The accessory started talking about the thorn but Connar jumped at the wall before him.

He planted his foot on it and kicked to get higher and grabbed the ledge, pulling himself up. Once on top Connar saw the rest of the room was lower and apart from a couple of pillars, empty.

On the other side Connar could see the lighr from the next behind another wall. He jumped off and rolled into a landing, dashed to the next wall and did the samerthing to get to the other side.

The room had only a few boxes in the center, looking in the Connar found some grenades, adrenaline pills, and some ammo. He grabbed it all and moved on.

The next door opened and Connar saw a red humanoid pointing an assault rifle at him. Connar hid beside the door, waiting for the bullets. When nothing happened he spied inside, then stepped into the open but it just stood there.

Connar waved his hand over his will'o cases and an assault rifle appeared in his hands, Connar walked toward the red dummy, shooting it till it dropped to the floor.

The sinner spun around to find two more of the dummies and shot them down as well. Connar reloaded his gun and moved on.

Connar found the last room, inside the dummies were spread out on different heights and behind cover. Connar aimed carefully, get a head shot on each kill.

A siren went off as a sigh that the training was finished. "Education compete, please return here." Connar signed and walked all the way back.

On his return an accessory with a visor was waiting for him. "Twenty years have been worked off of your sentence."

"Goody, maybe I'll get somewhere in twenty years at this rate."

The accessory held its hand out. "Hand over the adrenaline pills and any donations."

"What?"

"You found resources that you are not permitted to keep. Refusal to donate them will extend your sentence." Explained Connar's accessory

Connar gave the visor accessory the pills along with the spare ammo he found. "This donation will take another eighty years off your sentence."

"Better than the training? Whatever gets me out faster?" Another door opened and Connar was more than happy to get away from the lifeless machines.

At the end of the hall Connar winded up in a room with an abductor. It was a basic biped type without any weapons, it stood there not doing a thing.

Connar used his thorn to throw a cord at the abductor's shoulder and pull himself to it. Connar held on and began shooting the head till he was out of ammo. The sinner waved his gun over the will'o cases and it changed to a bent short sword.

He then stabbed into the shoulder and pry it off, Connar jumped off the abductor to see his handy work. The abductor's neck guard was gone and the metal parts of its arm wre on the ground, just a blob of will'o goo hung from its where its arm was.

Half a clip into the head and Connar brought the machine down. Connar watched the abductor explode then move on. In the next room he found another abductor this time the will'o container in the machine's chest held someone in it.

Connar grappled to the abductor's chest and stabbed it, he slowly cut it open till person inside fell into his arms. Connar kicked off the abductor, carrying the person to the platform behind the abductor. "You okay?" He asked to only find this too was a dummy.

With the dummy civilian in the capsule Connar jumped on the machine's back and severed its spine to finish it.

The siren went off in the room, followed by his accessory's voice. "Education compete, please return to your cell."

...

Back in the cell Connar just sat down before his accessory spoke up. "Education initiative compete. You are now entitled to undertake regular operations."

"So I earned the right to work, nice to know I have to earn freedom to work to get freedom. God damn slave drivers all of you."

"An operation has just become available, you are encouraged to sign up."

"Why am I even talking to you?" Connar rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Yes sign me up! Any excuse to see the outside."

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Please review it keeps us writers going, till next time CG out. Peace!


	3. Life as a sinner

Chapter. 3

Connar removed the blinder to find himself inside a military carrier, at the far end two other sinner waited for him.

One of them looked to be Connar's age, he had pink hair and teal eyes, a green jacket and shorts.

The other was a much older muscular man, he had white hair and yellow eye, worn an orange tank top and a big shoulder pad on his right side.

"Good to finally meet you sinner, your looking pretty chipper." Said the older man.

"Hey, is this that piece of shaz you were telling me about?" Asked the pink haired teen.

Connar adjusted his sleeve ends as he walked past the teen and offered his hand to the older man. "Hello, I'm Connar Vaniah. I'll try not to get in your way."

"I'm Uwe, my job is to show you two the ropes. This is your first time fighting, am I right?" Uwe shook Connar's hand firmly.

"My names Mattis, he said your a thief so I best guard my cash around you." The teen said.

Connar nodded to Uwe. "Yeah, but I've seen sinners fight a few. Don't worry I'm good at climbing and the thorn only helps."

"So that's how you've lived off the grid for so long." Connar didn't even look at Mattis. "Hey why do we get you as an instructor, why couldn't we you know, get a prettier one?"

"Heh, or maybe I get you transferred to latrine duty? How about that, wise guy?" Asked Uwe.

Mattis backed away and ran his hand through his hair. "Alright, enough talk already! There's a citizen out there waiting for a hero like me to come save'em! Let's get this turkey shoot outta the way before I die of old age!"

Connar took a seat on the opposite side of the other two. "What are we facing?"

"A basic biped type, but it'll have a few melee type mk l with it. They look like spinning blades."

"Got it, I'll do my best."

"Hey! Stop acting like I'm not here!" Yelled Mattis, but Connar still didn't listen.

...

They arrived at the location ready to go, Mattis drew from his cases an oddly shaped long sword and Uwe put on a pair of brass knuckles.

Connar drew his assault rifle and dashed ahead of the others. Four melee types came floating towards them, they're blades extended and spinning.

Connar ran to the first one and front flipped over it, he landed on the second, slamming it to the ground with his weight and blasted the third. Connar rolled under the last one and took off running.

"What was that!?" Mattis watched Connar ran away, obviously to the machines he left behind.

Uwe drew a rocket launcher from his cases, blasting the two melee types. "Stop daydreaming and go after him!"

Connar rounded a couple of corners and found the abductor. The biped tried to Connar but he used his thorn to grapple up to the second floor of a building. Connar jumped off the wall, landing on the abductor shoulder and stabbed it.

The sinner cut halfway through when the abductor crouched, Connar back flipped off the machine as it hopped up and down.

The other two arrived and began shooting it. "Grapple the legs!" Connar shouted.

"Who put you in charge?"

Uwe smacked Mattis in the back of the head. "Just do it." The two's thorn lached on to the abductor's knees and dragged it down.

Connar slid under the machine just as it fell, he got back on his feet and jumped on the abductor's pod. Connar glanced back to see Uwe holding a rocket launcher and Mattis holding an assault rifle. "Uwe shot the head! Mattis shot the right!" He yelled, sinking his blade into the pod.

The abductor arm broke off from Mattis' and his accessory's gun fire and the head took a lot of damage from Uwe and his and Connar's accessory, the machine started getting up and Connar kicked off the chest. The pod was badly damaged, leaking a lot of will'o. "Uwe, blast the pod!"

The veteran aimed and fired, the pod exploded, letting the citizen loss and the abductor fell to its knees again. Connar caught the citizen and leaped away from the abductor as will'o burst from it.

After more gunfire the abductor explode again and fell forward. "You okay?" He asked the citizen in his arms. It was woman wearing a suit and had white hair, she just buried face into his chest.

Connar carried the citizen to a capsule and boarded he carrier with his team.

"That was excellent sinner, fighting like that will get you up the ranks in no time." Praised Uwe.

"It was basic acrobatics, something I learned from climbing around this city's ruins for two years."

"Guess you've gotta be pretty good to avoid the peace and stability accessories for that long." Said Mattis. "Seriously that was that shaz!"

"Shaz isn't a word." Pointed Connar.

...

Back in the cell Connar laid on the cold metal that was to be his bed when his accessory chimed in. "You do not have the right to recline. Your sentence has been extended." The large green screen flashed red, showing ten more years have been added.

"Screw it." Connar closed his eyes to fall asleep.

"Only me!" Connar woke up and to see the cell's atmosphere changed to purple and Aries and in the cell with him. "Welcome back to the immaterial plain. The magical mystical realm between life and death! Pretty spooky, right? "

Connar took a moment to feel the atmosphere. "Actually, it feels strangely calming."

Aries smiled in approval. "Now do you remember all the stuff I told you when we first met?"

"Yeah it was earlier today, or yesterday. I don't know how long I was out after I fought that woman in red."

"It's almost time... are you ready?"

"You mean this great transformation."

"She's going to need your help."

"You mentioned a girl before, how is she in trouble?"

"Hurry! She can't wait forever!"

"Who! You tell me to do something but I need more to go on."

"Without her, the great transformation will never happen!"

"Who do you mean?" Connar stood up for the metal bed. "I need a description, or at least of name!"

Aries shook her head. "Oh. Looks like it's time for you to wake up... But we'll meet again soon!" The cell went dark as Aries vanished.

Connar wake up and rolled off the bed, falling on to the metal floor with a thud. "Ow." Was his only statement.

"Good morning." The android piped up. "Vital signs are normalized. Condition is now adequate."

"Stupid machine."

"An operation has been issued and assigned to you by the office of peace and stability. Sign up when ready."

"I need breakfast first!" Connar rose up from the floor, rubbing his eyes open. On the opposite side of the door a window opened, sliding a tray with a bowl of oatmeal and a slice of bread. "Really? I mean, really?"

Connar took a bite of the warm goop and gagged on it. "Are you kidding me? This is not how a human being should live!" He yelled at the cameras, his words fell on deaf ears.

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Please review it keeps us writers going, till next time CG out. Peace!


	4. The one who put me here

Chapter. 4

Connar removed his blinder to find himself back in the sinner transport, once again finding Uwe and Mattis. Connar took a seat across from the two.

"Morning sinner." Announced Uwe. "Our target this time out is an abductor with a serious weapons loadout. We're gonna have our work cut out."

"What are we talking about here, rockets?"

"Yeah, a megallanican carrier biped." Connar put his knuckles to his lips, looking elsewhere. Uwe got a chuckle out of the act. "I know that look, you hatching a plan?"

"I've seen a carrier before, I think I got a plan but you two will need to fallow it exactly."

"Huh!? You're in charge, again?" Wined Mattis.

"Ever see an abductor before becoming a sinner?" Asked Connar.

"No."

"You ever survive in the ruins, having to steal every day, knowing your luck gets worse each time?"

"No."

"Then shut it."

"Whatever big shot." Mattis shrugged a bit. "Gah! What is with all these operations, anyway? All I want is an easy way to move up in the world and live in the lap of luxury. Is that too much to ask?"

"You're gonna die out there soon."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Connar just laid back, not responding. "Fine don't talk, I know how to do it. Why don't we just... not hand over the super rare resources we find? You know just... quitely keep'em! Shaz, that's the answer! I'm a genius!"

Connar rolled his head to look at the accessories that just heard him. "Very soon."

...

The transport stopped, letting the sinners out on the desert. There they found the abductor, the machine had no arms but missile pods on its shoulders, connected to its upper body with two will'o pods.

"Everyone, aim for the missile pod on the right!" Uwe, Mattis, and the three accessories drew their guns while Connar drew his sword.

The group opened fire, Connar grappled to the left will'o pod and stabbed it. The abductor launched a couple of missiles from both its pods, causing the group to disperse. The abductor crouched then jumped, Connar kicked off the machine as it had its temper tantrum.

When it stopped, Connar grappled to the pod, continuing to pry it open. Connar pulled out his sword and smashed the hilt on the glass, when the will'o pod opened the abductor fell to its knees.

"Gimme your hand!" Connar got the citizen out of the abductor and away as one of its missile launchers exploded. "Get the other one I'll be back!" Connar toss the citizen over his shoulder and ran for the RRU.

The teen got to the capsule and gently lowered the citizen. "Just stay here, I'll be back with your friend."

Back at the fight the abductor's head let off a flash of light, an orb of energy appeared near its enemies and exploded. But not before one of Uwe's rockets blow of the abductor's last weapon.

Connar grappled on to the other will'o pod, this one was easier to rip open thanks to some stray bullets. When Connar pried it open the abductor fell to its knees again.

The sinner got the citizen out and ran, leaving the broken abductor to the others.

With some good sword swings from Mattis, a few punched from Uwe, and a lot of Bullets the abdouctor broke apart, now nothing more than scrap.

"Alright!" Shouted Mattis. "I'm gonna grab me some resources! Don't even try to stop me."

Uwe folded his arms and watched. "Go ahead, see what happens."

"Come on man, it'll be fine! no one'll ever know."

Connar started walking to join the two till something grabbed his arm. "Not so fast, you miserable leech!"

The sinner spun around to the familiar voice, before him was the woman he fought and trapped him here. With three accessories at her side.

"You! You're the one who put me in this nightmare!" Connar pulled away from the accessorythat had him, he put his hand on his wrist but stopped moving when the accessory held its hand out. Waiting to bind him if need be.

"Who are you?" Aske Mattis when he got there.

The woman turned her attention to Mattis. "You have embezzled stated owned resources. In light of this grave violation of the people's charter, your sentence will be extended."

Mattis watched his sentence go up by a hundred years. "W-w-wait! No! Aww man! If you guys would only be more generous with the rewards, we wouldn't have t-"

The woman stomped her exposed leg forward, silencing the rookie. "Listen very carefully, worm: you have no right whatsoever to question the methods of your panopticon." She dragged her foot back, kicking up dust at her accessories.

"Operation rewards are precisely calculated to reflect the exact degree to which the sinners receiving them have contributed to the greater good." She passed her glare at both Connar and Mattis. "As inexperienced nobodies, you amount to little more than a drain of your society's resources and goodwill."

"Goodwill? So funny I forgot to laugh." Respond Connar.

The woman looked over Connar, then pushed her glasses up. "Just what I would expect from a thief. You only take, giving nothing in return!"

"Who are you calling nobodies!? You-" The accessory moved its hand from Conner and to Mattis, binding his arms to his sides.

Uwe stepped up to reason with the woman. "Listen, Natalie, go easy on the kid, will you? I should've kept a closer eye on him. If anyone is to blame, it's-"

"Ugh! How pathetically noble of you." The woman cut him off. "Well, if you're that keen to share the blame, I'd be only too happy to extend your sentence too." Connar saw his and Uwe's years go up by only fifteen. "Uwe, it's all very well feeling a sense of responsibility for your charges, they are not punished, how do you ever expect them to learn? Take him away."

The accessories took Mattis and dragged him away, the woman glanced at Connar, who waved his thumb over his neck. Wording 'you're dead' to her. She looked at Connar, waiting for him to back down but he didn't. The huffed then left.

"That could have gone worse." Said Uwe. "In case you were wondering, that was Natalie '9' woo. She's with the office of peace and stability. Her job is to keep sinners like us in line. And ahe loves her job."

"I can tell, how many sentences has she extended under the charter of because I felt like it?"

"Hm, that's a good one. Listen, if you don't want to end up like Mattis, I recommend you keep your nose clean."

...

Back in his cell, Connar used his entitlement points to buy the right to recline so he could lay down without his accessory yelling at him.

Connar slept for a couple of hours before his accessory woke him. "The conditions required to take the level 2 code exam have been met. Your efforts have been duly noticed." Connar just sat up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "Level 2 code exam has been issued and assigned to you."

"Then sign me already, it's got to be better than this." The accessory handed Connar the blinder. "Here we go again."

As Connar walked blindly, his accessory filled him in on the mission. "A valuable resource belonging to the panopticon has been seived by enemy forces. Resource in question is Citizen Julien Sadat #e. Orders are to reclaim the subject from a hostile abductor."

At the end of the blind walk Connar was back in the transport, this time just Mattis was waiting for him. "So you're taking this code exam too, huh, right?"

"I guess so, must not be much if you're here too."

"Hey! I'm better then you'll ever be, you shaz!"

"I can feel myself getting dumber listening to you, shaz is not a word!" Connar looked over to his accessory. "Hey tin can, why are we here?"

The machine beeped a few times before answering. "Sinner Connar has shown talent for combat, leading his first two operations has proven quick thinking." The accessory processed more data. "Sinner Mattis is here for support, as a level one sinner can't act alone."

"And there you have it, you're here out of pity."

"Shut up you shaz! I'll prove I'm better then you!"

"That would take work, thought you wanted an easy life?"

Mattis stuttered and mumbled as he paced the transport for a few seconds, he kept glancing at Connar who watched him with disinterest. "Word is, code 2 sinners get the keys to the con! Well, they're allowed outside their cell, at least... No more staring at the wall all day for us, pal!"

"That's something at least, can get fresh air without some machine trying to crush me."

"Yeah! Right now, we're the lowest of the low. But it's time to move up in the world!"

Connar shook his head. "Won't mean anything if you die, we a man down for this so fallow my lead and we'll-"

"No way! Both times you've been calling the shots, I only fallowed because Uwe was there. Now there's no reason to listen to you."

Connar laughed at the other teen's plight. "Okay then, you want it the hard way? You do your thing I'll do mine, see who gets the job done first."

"You're on!" Mattis offered a handshake, which Connar accepted.

"Just blame me when you die." Connar grinned out of pity.

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	5. On to code 2

Chapter. 5

The transporter stopped in the raining city, opening up to let loose its sinners.

"Alright! Let's get this Shaz over with already!"Mattis jumped out of the transport, with his gun drawn running towards the first melee type mk he could see.

Connar climbed out as well and scanned the area while Mattis fought off the bladed machines. The sinner grappled to a building, flying to its second floor. "Hey Mattis! Need a hand?!"

"No way, I got this!" One of the robots charged into him. Mattis' large sword saved him but still knocked him back. Connar drew his assault rifle, shooting in bursts to destroy the machines. "I said I had that!"

"See you on the other side!" Connar climbed up some broken rods to reach the third floor, he grappled to another building then ran through it to find the abductor. It was a normal biped with huge generators on its shoulders, giving off purple waves of energy.

Connar watched from his hiding spot, waiting for the right time to strike. On the ground Mattis and their accessories found the abductor and opened fire, but none of the shots hit because of the abductor's shield.

"Huh!? What's the deal with this guy!? Our bullets are just bouncing right off!" Wined Mattis, he reloaded and fired again.

Connar grappled to the abductor's left shoulder and started cutting at the generator.

"You're not beating me!" Mattis grappled his thorn on the abductor's leg, pulling it down.

Connar held on as the giant robot fell, when it was over Mattis drew his large sword and slashed at the will'o pod. Connar got the generator off just as the abductor got back on its feet, it looked down at Mattis and punched him into the ground.

"That's gotta hurt." The former thief climbed onto the machine's right elbow to sever it.

Mattis' accessory used its will'o energy to revive him. The rookie grappled to the left shoulder, trying to break its arm off by hitting it with the hilt of his sword.

Jumped up and down to shack off the sinners, Mattis was thrown off, trying again to shot the machine but the shield was still there. Connar kicked off the abductor while it was still in the air, grappling to the second generator.

The abductor chased Mattis around the square, giving Connar time to cut the machine's shielding off. Connar then threw his thorn at the abductor's leg and pulled, tripping it before it caught Mattis.

"Booya!" Mattis drew his gun and took aim. "That shoulder shaz is history! Now we can start doing some serious damage!"

Connar, Mattis, and their accessories all started shooting at the abductor from four different angles. They keep it confused until all the bullets took their toll and the machine fell once again, this time permanently.

Connar caught the citizen as he fell out of the will'o pod, his accessory chimed in. "Reinforcements inbound, escort the citizen to the RRU."

"Lead the way."

Mattis jumped ahead of the accessory. "No I'll lead the way!"

Several more floating disks appeared in front of them, these one armed with a turret on top. Mattis and the accessories cleared the way, letting Connar get the citizen to the capsule.

"Operation compete." Said the accessories.

Mattis was jumping for joy. "Woo yeah! We did it! The training wheels are off, and the sky's the limit!"

Connar felt the rain start to lighten up, he looked to the sky, the rain had stopped and the sun shined through the clouds.

...

Connar paced in his cell, waiting for news of his exam when his accessory spoke to him. "Cell visit requested and authorized. Citizen approaching." The accessory moved aside and the door opened.

A man walked into the cell. He was a foot shorter then Connar and wore a white buttom up shirt with a black tie, grey builder pants and boots, brown hair and glasses.

"Hello. My name's Julien, or Julien Sadat #e if we want to be formal about it."

"Julien is fine, I'm Connar Vaniah. You're the one I saved earlier today, right?"

"Yes, I'm very grateful for what you did. I wanted to come by and tell you how much I appreciated it. I hope I didn't inconvenience you too greatly."

"It's fine, saving citizens is what a sinner does. Is it normal for citizens to thank sinners?"

Julien hung his head. "Not usually but. I was convinced that I was going to spend the rest of my life trapped in an enemy panopticon and never see my dear wife again."

"You're married? Good for you firend."

"I still shudder at the thought of it now... Well I just wanted to let you know that I appreciate what you did back there."

"Hey anytime Julien, I'd shack your hand but my accessory might tell me off."

"If there's ever anything I can do in return, feel free to come and see me. Spent most of my time in zakka down in the warren."

After Julien left the accessory stood in front of the door again. "Incoming message from the committee for social selection."

Percy the bear appeared on the oversized green monitor. "Greetings sinner!"

"What do you want pedo bear."

"Get ready, because I'm here to announce the result of your code exam. Ready or here it comes..." Percy paused for a moment then started clapping. "You passed! Hooray! Well done, you! Now you can contribute even more to your panopticon!"

"More work, woohoo." Connar stated sarcastically.

"I'm pleased to announce that you are now a member of an altogether better class of sinner! You're moving up in the world! And guess what? As a fully-fledged code 2 sinners, you're now allowed out of your cell! Lucky old you!"

"This bear is way too happy to not be creepy."

"And that's not all-there are even more operations available for you to take on and prove how much you love your panopticon."

"I don't!" Connar held his face, wishing dor the bear to shut up.

"You're a credit to your panopticon! But it'll take more than that to make up what you've done, thief! Now get oit there and give it your all, for the greater good!"

Now that the Percy was done, the accessory spoke up. "You've been assigned a level 2 cell, private conversation within certain limits is permitted in level two cells and above. New entitlements are available to you. It is recommended that acquisition of code 3 clearance be your next objective."

Connar stood up and touched the green monitor, the list of entertainments become much longer. Thinking about going outside he picked the entitlements to let him interact with other sinners, opposite genders, and citizens.

Connar stepped away from the monitor, approaching his accessory. "Okay, ready to leave." The machine nodded and stepped aside.

...

Outside the cell the first thing Connar saw was Mattis waiting for him. "Shaz, yeah! We did it! We moved up in the world! Check this place out!" Connar looked out over the railing, the area looked more like a storage facility with cells lining the wall.

"It's huge! How many of us sinners do you think they can fit in here?"

Connar shook his head in disgust. "Too many, sinners aren't human beings to panopticons. Just cannon fodder."

"Damn man, that's a grim way to think of it."

"Take it with a grain of salt." Connar walked away to the stairs.

"Hey! What's the rush man? I was about to head down to the warren."

"Have fun."

"Come on! You really need to blow this dead-end cell-side scene and let your hair down." Mattis dashed to Connar, taking his wrist Mattis felt something in Connar's sleeve.

Connar yanked his arm away, adjusting something in his sleeve. "What'cha got in there?"

"None of your business."

Mattis laughed at his friends seriousness. "Okay! Then I'll find out!"

Mattis tried again to grab Connar's arm, this time Connar kneed Mattis in the chest so hard he collapsed. "Ground rule, don't touched without a very good reason."

"Ow, okay."

...

Fallowing some sinners and citizens, Connar found himself in the warren. The warren was on a few rooftops on some of the old buildings still standing. Connar walked around till he was in a something like a square, there were giant TVs on some even taller buildings giving updates on all the panopticons of the world.

"Excuse me, are you new?" Connar turned to the origin of that the voice. It was a girl who looked to be Connar's age, she had red shoulder length hair with some of the front hair tied in a bread on her right side. She had heterochromia eyes, she left was a dark lavender and the right eye a dark blue.

The girl wore a light blue dress with a dark ribbon, her shoes and socks were the same color as the dress.

"Do you mean me?" Asked Connar.

"I saw you looking at everything around here and just thought you were lost. Sorry, I'm Alice "Sparrow" Rose. A code 3 sinner. Nice to meet you."

"Connar Vaniah, code 2 as of today. A pleasure."

"So you ARE new here, then allow me to give you the tour."

"Thank you, I'd appreciate that."

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	6. A life's worth

Chapter. 6

"Well, well, well. Look what the cat dragged in." Connar and Alice stopped to find Uwe walked towards them. "I guess from the fact that you're down here means you passed your code 2 exam."

"The abductor's shields were interesting but it was fairly straight forward." Replied Connar.

"I see you've already met Alice, you do as she says and you'll be fine."

Alice nervously rubbed her head. "Please Uwe. I'm not an instructor like you." She clapped her hands, looking at Connar. "Oh right! The tour! Okay you see those stairs." Connar's sight fallowed the girl's finger. "That's zakka, you can trade entitlement points for weapons."

"But don't code 2 sinners and on get to make weapons?"

"Yes but that takes time, and zakka's weapons make a good base for which one you have in mind." Alice led the former thief to the league by the stairs. "That down there is the fueling station. You can get a bite to eat, sit and talk to people, or have ice cream."

"What's ice cream?"

"Something to die for, and that's really it for what you can do in the warren."

Connar folded his arms and looked up. "Doesn't seem like much, then again I didn't expect getting much being a sinner."

"Hey! That wasn't nice leaving me back there!" Connar sighed as Mattis approached them, he was about to speak to Connar when he saw Alice. "Hello there, What'cha doing here?"

"I'm showing Connar the warren, I'm sorry was that your job?"

"No, no. Don't worry about that shaz."

"What's a shaz?"

"Thank you!" Said Connar, Alice looked at them confusingly.

"I don't get it. What did I do?"

Mattis ran his hand through his hair. "Well let me know if you want to know anything about the warren, I grew up here so anything I don't know ain't worth knowing."

"With your level of intellect, I bet there's plenty worth knowing that you don't." Said Connar.

"Did, did you just call me dumb!"

"Did I?"

"Yes you did." Pointed Alice.

Connar rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I was being sarcastic."

"Hey!" Shouted Uwe. "Can you three come here?"

"What's up?" Asked Mattis.

A citizen with green hair stood beside Uwe, looking over the other three sinners. "Got a minute? Good. I need someone to do a little operation for me. Think you can handle it?"

"I suppose so, what do you need?" Asked Connar.

"Magallanican forces have been entering our territory and destroying our facilities."

"Magallanican, I've heard of them. Their that nearby panopticon, right?"

Uwe nods to the question. "They're a low rent panopticon we're always had a beef with, I've had to school them more times than I can remember."

"If you keep beating them why do they come back, our supplies can't be worth THAT much trouble."

"The spineless scum let Hourai take over their con without even putting up a fight."

"So they're a vessel con." Connar folded his arm to think. "I vaguely remember something about Hourai. Something about being supposedly really scary."

"Wow! How do you know all of that?" Asked Mattis.

"You think food and metal was the only thing I look to take?"

The citizen coughed to regain the group's attention. "So will you take the job or not?!"

Alice clapped her hands. "Yes, you can count on us!"

"Good. Don't let me down, you hear?"

"Who does that guy think he is!?" Pouted Mattis. "We're doing him a favor, and he's treating us like dirt!"

"Do you thank your gun for killing someone?" Asked Connar, Mattis staring blankly. "I told you, sinners are disposable. We're not people to them. Just cannon fodder."

Uwe glared at the two boys. "Check that attitude, sinners! Ain't no point getting on the wrong side of a citizen - they'll only make your life more miserable than it already is."

The citizen nods an agreement. "That about sums it up, yes. You'd be wise to listen to your superior, you know. Okay, I think that concluded my business here. I trust you'll get the job done." The citizen walks way without another word.

"What a piece of shaz! Why can't he be nice and polite like that Julien cat?"

"I could ask the same of you Mattis." Said Connar.

"You want to start something!?"

The pink haired sinner stood right up in Connar's face, sizing him up as the former thief just stared back with half closed eyes. Alice stepped between the two and pushed them away. "Come on guys, we've just been given a job to do. Why not put your energy into that?"

"No way!" Mattis moved Alice aside. "Ever since we met you've been judging and looking down on me."

"Remind me. Who was the imbecile who tried to steal materials, while in plain view of the accessories that record everything we do?" Mattis took a swing at Connar, who duck the attack and punched Mattis square in the chest. The sinner fell to his knees, trying to breathe. "Don't bother getting up."

The thief turned to Uwe. "Ready to go?"

...

After a few minutes of riding in the transport, Uwe and Alice got up to stretch. "So are we going to fight some other sinners on this trip?" Asked Connar.

Uwe folded his arms. "Better get used to it, a lot of your fighting's gonna be against sinners just like you."

"Fine by me. After breaking a few robots I'm looking forward to spilling some human blood."

Alice eyed the boy with concern. "You can't really mean that, right? I know it's our job to fight but we can't forget that we're taking human lives, you forget that then you're a murderer!"

"This isn't a 'job' as you call it. This is a death sentence, it's them or us. The way I see it, the more of them I kill the faster I'm out of here. So yeah, this is murder."

Alice shook her head. "We have to save the three citizens in the area. So if you're going to kill anyone, please know who you're shooting."

The transport stops moving, Connar draws his gun. "We're here, time to fill some graves."

...

The transport opened to reveal a ruined city, the sinners got off the transport and into the street. Straight ahead of them was a citizen, on his knees and holding his head.

The group sprinted toward the citizen till three enemy sinners came from the right of the interception. Connar took aim at the sinner closest to the citizen till a white spear flew by his head, impaling the sinner.

Connar fired at the next sinner, knocking them down. Alice ran right beside him, shooting the last sinner down as well.

When they got to the citizen Connar put half a dozen bullets in the heads of the sinners he and Alice gunned down. "First one, let's get him back." Alice carried the citizen back to the RRU with Uwe and their accessories following behind.

Connar looked down the right hand street, seeing a couple of sinners carrying another citizen with two melee type abductors fallowing. Connar chased after them, shooting down one of the machines on the way.

The other sinners got around the corner as the machine was destroyed, when Connar got there he was shot in the chest and fell, his accessory shooting at the gunner on the second floor of a building to drive him back.

The accessory put its hand on Connar's wound and gave him a burst of will'o energy, healing the wound.

"What!?" Connar touched his chest to find he was healed.

"Restored to full capacity, please limit to the use of resources."

As Connar rolled his eyes he saw the sinner that shot him, the thief used his thorn to drop the sinner to him. Connar shot him in the head then took the sniper rifle.

Down the street Connar ran through some rubble till he found a broken abductor, glowing bright blue on the other side he saw the sinners he was after and another pair carrying another citizen to their own RRU capsule.

Connar aimed with the sniper rifle and shot the farthest sinner in the back of the head, dropping the citizen. The other three turned to look where the shot came from and Connar hit the second sinner carrying a citizen.

The remaining two sinners fired their assault rifles at the sniper. "Accessory! Get in there!"

"Understood." Connar's accessory charged in firing at the enemy sinners. The ssinners backed up, one of them tried to pick up a citizen but was shot in the head by Connar and the other one was gunned down by his accessory.

With the sinners gone Connar slowly walked towards the citizen lying on the ground till he shot the other machine that was with them. When it was down Connar put the rifle in his case and dashed after his accessory.

The accessory picked up one of the citizens and ran passed him, Connar kneeled down to the other citizen, a girl with a purple ponytail. "You okay?" He helped her up and found blood with some bits of brain on her shirt. She was shaking in the thief's arms. "It's okay now. You'll be right as rain, trust me."

As Connar carried the citizen back three more enemy sinners came around the interception with their weapons drawn. "Drop that citizen now!" One shouted.

"Okay!" Conner let the girl's legs fall to the ground then drew his sword to her throat. "Just play along and we'll be fine." He whispered as she started to scream.

The sinners looked confused at first till one of then started laughing. "This isn't gonna work, drop the sword-"

"Or what? You'll kill me quickly? I don't plan on dying."

"We all know you're buffing." The group started walking forward.

Connar pulled the blade against her neck, stopping the sinners' advance. "You willing to take that chance? A dead citizen for me is better than your con getting a live one."

"Please." The girl sobbed. "I have a family."

"Don't we all? Tell me, is that phrase supposed to make me care, make me let you go? Tell us about them, tell us all about them."

"I, I..."

"Spit it out woman!"

"I have a mom and, and two younger siblings! A brother and a sister!" The citizen shouted. "Please, please don't kill me!"

"Let her go now!" Yelled the sinners.

"You want her so bad then shoot me!" Connar watched them take aim but still just stand there. "That's right you can't, you've got assault rifles. You open fire and you run the risk of killing her in the spray, so then what? Can't use your close range weapons cause then I'll just kill her and you get nothing either way."

Behind the sinners Connar saw Uwe and Alice coming to his aid. "Times up." Uwe blasted the three with his rocket launcher, blowing them away.

Only one sinner was still alive from the attack but Alice thrusted her spear through their heart.

"See? Told you we'd be fine." Connar lowered his sword and sheathed it, the girl fainted in his arm. "Guess you weren't faking."

"What were you thinking?" Yelled Alice.

"I was buying time till my accessory came back, didn't think you'd all be here."

"I'll be taking her back, you've done enough for her."

"She's alive isn't she?"

The two started walking till Uwe grabbed Connar by the arm. "I know this is a war zone, but you can't do something like that. A citizen could end up with PTSD."

"I make no promises." Connar shook off Uwe and headed for the transport.

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	7. Meet and greet

Chapter. 7

Early noon at the fueling station Uwe, Mattis, Alice, and Connar all sat down to celebrate a finished operation.

"You two did well today." Said Uwe. "Lunch's on me. Go ahead, fill your boots."

Mattis' eyes lit up. "Seriously!? Shaz, yeah! Okay, let's see..."

Connar elbowed the rookie in the side. "None for you, you weren't apart of the mission."

"And whose fault was that?"

"The one who took a swing at me."

Alice opened a soda bottle, tossing the cap at Connar. "Let him have some fun, what harm could he do?"

"Lemme get a so-chlo over here!" The pink haired sinner shouted.

Uwe just shook his head. "Enjoy. Just don't get used to it, okay?"

"Oh, and ten of your finest Q-cumbers, my good man!"

"Hey, maybe you should slow down a little?"

"What's that? Sorry, you'll have to speak up!"

Connar glared Alice, saying_ 'I told you so.'_

Alice returned the look with her hands up, saying _'sorry.'_

Connar ran his hand through his hair, turning back to Uwe. "Thank you for this boss."

"Knock it off, will you? You don't have to thank me. Just enjoy yourselves, you hear?" Uwe's face grew more stern for a moment. "Oh, but just to be serious for a second, I want you to take a second to think about the freedom you have to make your own decisions and how import-"

"Another co-shlo if you will, good sir! Actually, make it three!"

Connar looked at Mattis confusingly. "Your first one isn't even here yet, and you order more?"

"In case I like it, I want more."

"And if you don't?"

Uwe let out a cough to get their attention. "Listen, I probably shouldn't say this, but you two are a cut above the average rookies we get coming through here."

Alice nods to agree. "I haven't seen any of Mattis' skill, and very little of Connar's. But if Uwe says your good than it must be true."

"At code level 2, the operations you get issued won't be all that tough. It's a good chance to really learn your craft and get on top of battlefield tactics."

Mattis got his drank and down the whole thing. "Another co-shlo! And make it snappy!"

"You are completely hopeless." Connar rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Let me ask, are we the only rookies you got?"

"No, we'll need to set something up. Give you a chance to meet your fellow greenhorns."

"Did someone say 'party'?" Stepping into the building was a woman with short red hair, she wore a grey tank top and shorts. Red boots, one knee high and one thigh high. Grey headphones and a body harness.

"Ah, if it isn't my old pal Nina."

"Hey Nina! How you been?" Asked Alice.

"Bashing abductors, cutting up sinners. The usual. So we having a party?"

"Yeah! Easiest way to meet and greet everyone. You two are going to love it." Alice points at the rookies

"Alright, alright." Uwe caved to the two girls. "Sounds like a plan. Let's give these kids a chance to get to know one another."

"That would be great Uwe."

"Leave it to me. I'll see what I can put together."

"Hey! Where's my so-chlo? You deaf or something, old man." Shouted Mattis.

As he was about to drink his third so-chlo Connar snatched it away. "No more for you, you've had enough."

"Give that back!"

Connar kept Mattis at an arm's length. "I can small the alcohol on your breath, you're done." Connar shoved Mattis back and jumped off the couch, letting Mattis fall face first into the floor.

Uwe stood up, grabbing everyone's attention. "Let's call it a day, shall we? C'mon on, back to your cells! And I don't want to hear any complaints."

The group left fueling station and returned to they're cells.

...

Later that day Connar stood in his cell, staring at his wall sized monitor. He was looking at the different weapons he could have built, he was looking at the guns when his accessory chimed in. "Message received from Uwe "sakamoto" Cabrera. Subject requests rendezvous at fueling station."

Connar sighed, he pit on his jacket, adjusted his sleeves and left to the meet.

Outside of the cell Connar walked to the stairs when someone slammed into him, knocking Connar on the railing. "The hell was that for!"

"I, I'm so sorry! I wasn't looking where I was going! Are you okay?" Before Connar was a girl with dark hair. She wore a white hoody over a sky blue dress, black leggings and shoes. Her hood was up with a pair of teal headphones over the hood.

"Sorry about that. Are you okay?" With the girl was a man, wearing a white jacket over a red sweater, black pants with blue shoes. A teal and white ball cap and metal headphones with blue ear pieces.

"Still in one piece, and you two are?"

"I'm Hal, and this is my adorable little sister Ann."

The girl shook her head. "I'm standing right here, you know."

"Oh, don't be so sensitive. One would think you didn't like being called adorable!" Hal turned back to Connar. "Since you're wondering around here, I'm guessing you're a code 2 sinners too."

"Sadly it's true. May I guess the same?"

"Yeah us too. We're still getting used to actually being allowed out of our cells! Well, we should watch out for each other from now on, okay? We newbies need to stick together."

"A sound plan. I'm Connar by the way. So you two a siblings."

"That's right. It's not all that unusual to find sinners who are related, you know. We're sinner siblings, born and raised."

"Interesting, you two going to the party at the fueling station?"

Hal nods in agreement. "Yeah! It should be in full swing by now. Let's go together, we don't want to miss all the fun."

"Lead on then." Ann ran down the stairs to the lift, with Hal and Connar right behind.

...

"Glad you could made it, sinners." Uwe greeted the three, Hal and Ann walked by the veteran into the party. "These are some of the folks you'll be going into battle with. Looks like a pretty good turnout."

Connar looked over Uwe's shoulder, scanning the room to find only a handful of people. "This everyone I'll be fight alongside?"

"Not everyone could make it, but I'm sure you'll meet the no shows sooner or later. For now, you need to mingle, sonner. Introduce yourself to everyone. Make a little small talk."

"I'm not good a small talk."

Connar started to back out of the building when a pair of hand landed on his back, pushing him further inside. The thief looked back to see Alice. "Don't be a stick in the mud. I'll help greet everyone."

Once in the main area Nina waved to greet the two newcomers. "Ah, there you are! Glad you could make it!"

Alice stopped pushing Connar to return the greeting. "Wouldn't miss it! This one tried to run as soon as he got here." She pointed to Connar. "Really though, thanks for this Nina."

"Oh, it's not really for you! I just wanted to go wild! You know, really let loose!"

"Don't I know it? We need to make to most of every moment we get!" Alice noticed Connar looking around the place like his was reading a battlefield. "And Nina, think you could share some of that fun with grumpy here?"

"I'm grumpy, I'm focused." Connar pointed.

Nina sighed and threw her hands up. "Listen, Connar was it? If you don't learn to unwind now and then, you'll go crazy. Now, let me see you get out there and mingle!"

Alice grabbed Connar by the arm, dragging him to the next person. "Hi, glad you could join us." Ann greeted Alice.

"Same here Ann, you having fun?"

"Yes, this is great fun! It's so nice to have the chance to meet all these lovely people!"

"That's what this is all about, meeting the people who you can trust your life too. Knowing that we're all in this together makes me even more determined to give my all for our panopticon!"

"Don't tell me to buy the trash that bear told you?" Asked Connar. "Your 'lovely panopticon' doesn't give two senses about you. You are the exact image the con wants from us sinners, polite, smiling soldiers that don't think about anything but serving the all mighty panopticon."

Ann stepped back from the two, looking like she was about to cry. "Connar!" Alice shouted. "That was uncalled for."

"Prove me wrong."

"Prove your right."

The thief to in a deep breath. "We fight, we kill, we're denied sleeping, talking to other people, and basically anything that makes us human unless we kill. We're not humans to the panopticons."

"It's because the world is in ruins, we have no choice but to fight for what keeps us alive."

"No we don't. The citizen that keep the cons running, what would happen if all the cons brought them all together and gave them a ton of the resources that we're hording? They'd find a way to fix the world, put back to what it once was. We're just too caught up in self praservation to see that."

"Connar, it's as simple as you think."

"Yes it is, it's just easier for you to swallow empty promises that then think for yourself." Connar turned and walked to the exit.

"Where you going?" Asked Uwe.

"Back to my cell."

"But the party just started-"

Connar turned and glared at veteran. "Let them have their 'fun' then, but I refuse to be associated with puppets."

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	8. Meet and greet, take 2

Chapter. 8

"Connar!" Yelled Alice, chasing the thief to the warren plaza. "Would you stop walking?!" Connar stopped, he turned to face her with a sour expiration. "What you did in there was wrong Connar, why do you... when someone tries to be nice to you, you spit in their face!"

Connar just stood there, watching Alice. "You act like you're some big shot, why? Just because you lived outside the panopticon!?"

"If you have a point, please make it."

"Why? So you can sit in your cell, alone?"

"No, so I can order better equipment to shave my years faster. When my number hits zero I'm gone."

Alice tried to punch Connar but he caught her arm and shoved her away. "What makes you think you're so much better then everyone, huh? Tell me that!"

"I want my freedom back, nothing more."

"What do you think we're fighting for?"

"No! You fight for rights. Say you work off you sentence, then what? You continue to live in a cell, continuing to fight. You're not free, you're just something for all the other sinners to look up and 'give your all for the greater good' and all that bull." Connar walked toward a ledge, taking a seat to look at the night sky. "Greater good. It's just another flowery phrase that's supposed to justify bad ideas."

Alice sat down on the ledge beside Connar. "What made you so bitter?"

"I just don't like people who think the panopticon actually care about us."

"Why's that?"

Connar turned to Alice. "You really want to know?" The girl nods. "The idea that if all the cons could just come together and share what they have, came from my parents. It was that idea that brought them together in the first place."

"So what happened?"

"What do you think happened? They brought this idea of global peace to the higher ups and they were made sinners with a two million year sentence for treason that afternoon."

"All just for that?"

"Told you, cons only care about themselves."

"Wait a sec." Alice took a moment to think. "If they were citizens that turned into sinners, what happened to you?"

"They made a safe house in the city ruins, said to go there and hide. If everything went well they would come find me." Connar brought up his hand to his face, covering his eyes. "That was the last time I saw them."

"Need a minute?" Alice slowly rubbed his back. "You hate the panopticon for what it did to your family, but they're still alive right?"

Connar lowered his hand and sighed. "The safe house had enough supplies to last a few months. In that time I was going crazy with worry. I practiced parkour in the meantime so I could get in the panopticon and find out what happened to them."

Alice waited for him to speak. "They died of their first mission. The Intel was shady, there were more enemies then was reported, it was an execution. One I'll never forget."

"Connar, you can't let this eat at you. I'm sure you parents didn't want you to live like some hermit, stealing to survive. The panopticon my think of us sinners as tools but they still take care of us, its give and take. The more we fight the better our lives become."

"It doesn't matter how wonderful they make your life, because at the end of the day a cage is still a cage."

"Maybe, but is life out there, all alone. Is it really that grand, stealing to survive."

Connar shook his head. "I won't pretend it was easy but I could do and be whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted."

"But is it worth being alone?" Alice asked, to which Connar lowered his gaze to the lower levels of the warren.

The two sat in silence for a couple of minutes till Alice stood up. "Connar, come back to the party. Meet everyone there. You may be right about living in a cage but that's no excuse to be mean to everyone."

"Fine." Connar stood up, brushing the dirt off his hands. "There's gonna to be enough gunfire coming at me as it is. I don't need it coming from behind me as well."

Alice threw her hands up and sighed. "Good enough for now, come on then!"

...

Connar and Alice returned to the party, avoiding Ann on the way. In the corner they spotted a girl wearing a dark green combat winter coat, dark pants, leg warmers, large steel headphones, and clear yellow visors. Alice dragged Connar to meet her. "Hi Marie, are enjoying yourself?"

"Um... hello..." She spoke hanging her head. "N-nice to meet you sir."

"It's fine. I'm Connar, you don't have to call me sir."

"I... I'm afraid I'm not much of a party person. I n-never know what to say..."

"You and me both sister."

The let out a long sigh. "M-maybe I shouldn't have come... I just thought maybe I could make some new friends. Silly really."

"Come on Marie, not think like that." Alice grabbed and held the girls hands. "You have a friend right here."

"Oh, of course! I'm sorry I forgot."

The thief shook his head in disapprove. "Being meek will get you killed out there."

"Connar!"

Alice was going to yell at him till the boy continued. "If you want to survive you'll to get tough, but don't lose sight of who you are and what you fight for. I'd like to be your friend as well, and if you want I can teach you how to be stronger."

"Th-thank you!" The girl looks up and gives shy smile to her company. "M-my name's Marie. I'm a bit hopeless, but-"

"Don't think like that, we all have something to be proud of. I'm Connar, still with me and all will fear and respect the Marie." The thief patted Marie's arm. "Talk you later, okay?"

"Yes, thank you!"

As Marie left Alice wore a large grin on her face. "Looks like the tough guy has a heart of gold after all."

"Never said I didn't. So, who's next?"

Alice led the boy to an elderly man sitting on one of the sofas. He was dressed in desert camouflaged clothes, and grey hair in a ponytail. "Connar, meet Sergio. Sergio, this is Connar."

The old man looks up to the pair. "Ah, you're the kid Uwe's instructing."

"More or less, pleasure to meet you. How do you know Uwe?"

"I do that same job as Uwe. That means I knock rookie sinners into shape." Sergio took a long look at the boy. "Uwe's told me all about you. He thinks you could go places... But don't get ahead of yourself! You've still got a hell of a lot to prove."

"I understand. I'm the type to die over something stupid."

"We'll see. For now, stay focused, stay sharp, and become the best fighter you can be. You got it?"

"Transparent."

"Woo-hoo-hoo-hoo! PAAAAAAAARTY!" Shouted Mattis from across the fueling station.

"Oh, for God sakes. What now?" Connar stomped over to Mattis, finding him fully intoxicated.

The drunk teen looked at the thief standing over him. "You having as much fun as me?"

"I'd dare say you're having enough fun for the both of us."

"What's the matter with you? C'mon! Let's tear this place up!" Mattis picked up a bottle off the table and offered it to Connar. "Here, get some of this down you! It's the shaz!"

"No, I think one drunk is more than enough." Connar kept backing away till Mattis fell on the floor.

"This is the good shaz, I'm telling you! I feel... I feel like I could - hic! - do anything!"

"Wait till morning, you'll be singing a different tune. See ya champ." Connar patted Mattis on the back and continued on.

At the bar Connar watched Alice try to help up Mattis, but he kept falling.

"Hey, it's you." The thief turned to the person next to him. He wore a dark blue jacket over a black t shirt, gray pants, and qhite earphones. "The name's Kai."

"Connar." The thief offered a handshack.

"Good to meet you. I've met a lot of people over the years, and not all of them are around anymore..."

"Sorry to hear that, they must have been good people."

Kai gave a light laugh. "Sorry, you're not supposed to talk about this stuff at parties, are you?"

"I'm no good at large gatherings, so I'd be the wrong guy to ask."

"Then let's talk about something fun." Kai lowered his head to think, a few seconds pass before he looks at Connar again. "Sorry. It's just not happening."

Connar could almost feel the atmosphere getting awkward. "Okay well, good to meet you. Look forward to seeing you again on the battlefield."

"Yeah, you too." Kai took off and Connar turned back to face the bar.

"That guy is trying WAY too hard to be deep."

"Hey! You made it!" Hal patted Connar on the back.

"Of course I did, we came in together."

"Oh yeah." Connar brought his hand to his face. "Parties are strange things, don't you think?"

"How so..." The thief started rubbing the sides of his eyes.

"Well, it's just a bunch of people standing around talking, but somehow it's just... fun." Hal waved his hand over the room. "It feels like... no matter how tough things have been... here, in this moment, none of that matters. Really recharges the batteries, you know."

"That's... Surprisingly insightful."

"Oh yeah! You should try this fizzy water with a pinch of so-chlo. Really brings out the flavor... It's really tasty, really... moreish."

"I'll stick to plain water actually."

"She's quite a looker."

Connar fallowed Hal's gaze to Nina. "I guess."

"Looks like she could handle herself in a fight too... I'd love to see how hard she can hit."

"I'm sure her right hook could put you down if you ask nicely." A thud caught Connar's attention, Mattis was out cold on the floor with Alice shaking her head at him. "A cage is still a cage. Let's see if I can break it open."

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	9. Round about

Chapter. 9

The next morning Connar awake in his cell, stretching out his arm as he sat up. As Connar rubbed the sleep from his eyes the accessory spoke up. "Good morning. Message received from Mattis, requests rendezvous at the warren."

"Breakfast first, and code two better be not be the same." As small slide opens in the cell, pushing in a tray of food. Connar kneeled down to it to find it was the same food as before but this time with packet of sugar.

Connar picked up the packet and chuckled. "I am gonna burn this place to the ground."

...

Down in the warren Connar met up with Mattis and found Alice and Uwe there too. "Boo!" Mattis tried to scar Connar, but failed.

"You got two seconds, why am I here?"

"Come on guy, lighten up! Have you heard the new!? It's pretty spooky!"

"Then get to it already!"

Mattis jumped back at Connar's shout. "Shaz dude, calm down. A guy's tries to be nice and you snap at him."

"If you'd get to the point, I wouldn't snap at you."

Alice stepped in to keep things from getting ugly. "There's a rumor of a ghostly woman in the cell garden on level 2."

Uwe let a disgusted sigh. "If I hear any more about this damn ghost, I swear I'll... Look, try to slap some sense into your pals, will you?"

"Okay sure. Alice, Mattis, ghost don't exist. Period, so drop this nonsense before you do something stupid and add more years to our sentences."

"Come on man! How can we be sure unless we check it out for ourselves?" Mattis could see that Connar was losing interest. "If that ain't enough to grab ya, someone is offering a reward for proof about the rumor one way or the other."

"I didn't hear that part." Said Alice.

"So whaddya say? C'mon! Don't let me down here man!"

Connar put up his hand. "I'll pass."

"Same here." Said Uwe. "I'm washing my hands of this whole sorry affair. If you want me, I'll be in the fueling station." Uwe started walking away, then stopped to look back at the teens. "There is one thing. You do know what you have to do to get to the cell garden, right?"

The three just looked at each other. "Thought as much. You need to talk to everyone's favorite ratbag Enzo. He'll tell you what you'll need to know... but he won't do it for free."

"Thank you Uwe." Alice waved good bye. "Okay let's get too it!"

"Tell how it goes when you're do, I'm gonna go sign up for an operation." Connar backed up from the two and walked away.

"Screw him then!" Yelled Mattis. "We can do this with them, come on." AAlice noded and the two went back to the panopticon.

...

In the code 2 cell block Alice and Mattis searched for while till the got to the top floor and found their target.

"Excuse me, are you Enzo?" Asked Alice.

"Wotcher! You after somethin'?" Enzo got a look at the pair. "Over 'ere we 'ave Mattis Bruno. A somewhat gullible young feller, if the word on the street is to be believed."

"Wh-?! Y-! How do you even...?" Mattis was flabbergasted.

"And then there's you, Alice Rose. Polite and friendly even when she worries for her friends."

Alice played with the hair she had over her shoulder. "Thank you, but could you tell us how to get into the level 2 cell garden. Please."

"And there it is- the qeastion in qeastion! I know exactly what yer up to, see. And why." Enzo shook his head. "But I ain't about to share me 'ard-won intel wiv you young whippersnappers for free now, am I? Information's a valuable commodity, if ya catch me drift..."

"Resources for resources, right?" Alice searched her dress pockets for anything to use. "What can you tell us for a... piece of a mk 1 carapace."

Enzo took the item, stuffing it into his backpack. Pleasure doin' business wiv ya! The cell garden enterance yer lookin' for's right 'ere on level 2. There you go. That's yer lot."

"Wh-!? That's it!?" Yelled Mattis.

"The more generous you are, the more I'll tell ya. Do I 'ava to spell it out?"

Mattis put his hands on his sides and sighed. "Is this guy for real?"

Alice checked pockets again, this time taking out a first aid kit. "Will this do?"

Enzo took the kit, putting it in hos backpack as well. "Pleasure doin' business wiv ya! 'Ere's the passcode you'll be needin' to get to the cell garden sector yer after." He hands Alice a cardkey. "It's always movin' see. Walk though the door willy-nilly, an' you never know wot bit of the 'orrible old maze you'll end up in."

"That sounds fun." Alice was starting to have second thought.

"But wiv the right passcode, you can make any sector you want come to you instead."

"For real!?" Asked Mattis.

Alice bowed slightly. "Thank you for the info and code." She went to the stairs, with Mattis at her side. On the ground floor Alice started giggling.

"What's so funny?"

"Just thinking about what would've happened if Connar was with us. He hates it when you say shaz, he might have popped his lid listening to that guy talk." Mattis joined her in the laugh.

...

A minute later the two found the entrance. They stepped inside and Mattis jumped at the console. "Alright! Let's go find us a pretty ghoul!"

After typing in the code Mattis accessory beeped. "Entry to this sector of the general purpose movable cell array is strictly forbidden. I repeat, entry to this cell garden sector is not permitted under any circumstances."

"Wh-? Huh? What's the big idea? Hey, I know my rights! I've claimed the entitlements, and I need to get in here! What's the deal?"

The teen's argument was lost on the accessory. "Continued refusal to comply with a direct order from your accessory will result in a disciplinary report being filed with the office of peace and stability."

"This won't end well if we push it, let's find another way." Suggest Alice.

Mattis lowered his head as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, we need to do some thinking. Nah, much as I hate to say it, I think we need to fall back and check in with Uwe. He said he'd be in the fueling station, right?"

...

Back in the warren, Alice and Mattis explained what happened since the ghost hunt began.

The veteran looked concerned. "I wonder what's going down... There must be something in there they don't want you to see." Uwe folded his arms as he looked between the two sinners. "Well, if you want my advice, you'll stay well clear. All this stuff about a ghost... Sounds like the kind of tall tale the fraternity might cook up to get soft-headed kids to do their dirty work."

"Wait a sec, who's this fraternity shaz?"

"What's the best way of putting this...? I guess you could say it's a bunch of folks who like to sail close to the wind."

Aliice tapped Mattis on the shoulder to get his attention. "They're the black market that handles the resource trading and gun running between the panopticons."

"I'd have as little to do with them as possible if I were you." Warned Uwe. "And give up on the ghost hunting too while you're at it."

"No way!" Mattis stood up for the sofa. "There's a hot ghost chick waiting for me, a real man doesn't give up! You with me Alice!?"

"I'm in! I can't let a boy get the better of me!" Alice got up as well, fallowing Mattis outside.

...

"Hey! You! Where'd you think you're going?" Outside the fueling station Alice and Mattis were greeted by voice. They turned left to find its source.

A young man wearing a teal jacket with three ties around his neck, pink, black, and orange. He had short sandy hair and slinted eyes. "Where the hell are my glasses? I know you hid them somewhere."

"I'm sorry sir, but we didn't take any glasses." Said Alice.

"Ahh, trying to pass the buck, are we? Very classy. But you can't fool me." The man's voice growing more serious. "I know you did it, and I'll be telling the office of peace and stability as much."

"You can't! We didn't take your glasses, we don't even know you!"

"Well, you can give me some compensation for all the pain and distress you've caused me."

"Like hell we're giving you anything." Said Mattis.

"Listen, those were expensive spec. Let's say I know a man who can... make things happen. If you that on, say... 500,000 years of my sentence, I might be able to forgive you."

"Are you freaking crazy, man!?"

"Well, if you're not willing to agree to my terms, I don't have much choice." The man's gaze was starting to give Alice and Mattis the chills. "I'll just have to get my friend to bump you both back down to code 1."

Mattis was starting to panic. "Huh!? You have got to be kidding me!"

"Please don't!" Alice pushed Mattis away, standing up to the man. "I'll take the years, just don't put us back at code 1!"

Heh,heh...heh. Ha ha ha ha!" The man laughed uncontrollably. "You should see your faces!" The two looked back at each other confused. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I couldn't resist. I was just yanking you rookies' chains."

"That's not funny you jerk!" Alice punched the man in the chest, knocking him back.

"I wanted to see if Uwe's latest lapdogs could take a joke. And I think I have my answer."

"Who are you, how do you know Uwe?"

"Ah, where are my manners? The names Carlos. I've known Uwe since forever."

"I'm Alice, this is Mattis."

Carlos nods. "He's told me all about you. But he didn't tell me you were such easy marks! That was priceless! Heh heh!"

"Where do you get off treating people like that, anyway?" Mattis was getting sick of the games.

"I said I was sorry, didn't I? By the way, where's the third wheel? Con something."

"Connar. He's not with us, thinks he's too good to hang with us."

"Mattis don't be like that." Alice patted her partner on the back. "He's just socially awkward is all?"

Carlos threw up his hands and sighed. "Maybe another time then. Let's get down to business, I know how to get your accessories to turn a blind eye to you going into the cell garden."

As Carlos got the teens attention he started laughing again. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry... I just can't get over that look on your faces when I... Heh!"

"Knock it out, will you!?" Shouted Mattis.

"Ahh, okay. You just need to make friends with a citizen. Anyone will do. Then you can get them to... make certain adjustments to your accessory."

Mattis tilted his head. "I'm not exactly sure we're allowed to mess around with our accessories like that."

"Well, that doesn't stop most folks from doing it. Rules are for bending, right?"

"A citizen, huh? Um... There was that Julien guy." Mattis turned Alice. "Connar and I saved him a while back, he thanked us personally."

Alice pumps her fist. "Alright! Back on track, thank you Carlos."

"Don't thank me, pay me. I'll be expecting a cut of the reward if there really is one." Carlos looked Alice over and grinned slightly. "But there isn't one, I wouldn't mind a date with you Alice."

Just then Alice's accessory stepped in between them, staring down Carlos. Carlos and the accessory just gared at each other till Carlos broke out laughing again. "You got some machine fallowing you." The sinner walked into the fueling station, still having a laugh.

"What was that?" Asked Mattis.

"I don't know, Leon sometimes does it to guys." Alice tapped her accessory's shoulder and waved it forward to fallow.

"You named your accessory Leon?"

"Yeah, it's better than 'that thing'."

"Does it happen when a guy asks you out?"

"Now that you mentioned it, yeah."

Mattis looked back at the accessory and stepped away from Alice as it watched him.

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Please review it keeps us writers going, till next time CG out. Peace!


	10. Stealth

Chapter. 10

After the encounter with Carlos, Alice and Mattis headed straight for zakka, inside the two found Julien right away. "Hey Julien!" Mattis shouted as he walked towards him.

"Oh, hello there." Greeted them turned to the female sinner. "Who are you?"

"I'm Alice, a friend of Mattis, nice to meet you."

"Thanks again for rescuing me. I don't know what I would have d-"

"Julien, man, you gotta help us!" Mattis interrupting the citizen. "This is, like, the most important thing ever in the history of time!"

Alice let out a giggle. "I wouldn't go that far."

Julien stepped back from the pair. "Okay, okay. Calm down. Tell me what you need."

"We're looking for a ghost in the level 2 cell garden, but our accessories won't let us in. We heard a citizen can get an accessory to turn a blind eye, so here we are."

"Well." Julien took a second to think about the situation. "I could make the necessary tweaks to the accessories in question, but it would be a serious violation of the people's charter..."

Mattis put his hands together, begging the citizen. "Please do this for us, we have to get in there! A hot ghost chick is waiting for me to save her!"

Okay, okay. I'll do it. You saved my life. This is the least I can do to repay you."

"Woo-Hoo! We're in business!"

Alice smiled brightly, watching Mattis so overjoyed. "Thank you for this Julien, I owe you one."

"But there's something I'll need you to do for me before I can get to work."

Mattis gave out a sigh of frustration. "What!? Like what?"

"There's a particular resource I'm going to need in order to help you out. I'd like you to find it for me."

Alice gives a nod. "Okay, what do you need?" Julien wrote on a piece of paper and handed to her. "Thanks. Be back in a flash." Alice dashed out of the shop running straight for the lift.

...

On the first code floor Alice looked high and low for the resource, talking to several citizens. As she rubbed her eyes Alice accessory patted her head. "Stop that Leon!"

"What are we looking for?" Alice showed the machine the paper. "A super will'o graphite. Scanning... this way."

After walking to another wall of cells the accessory picked up the item in question, handing it to Alice. "Thank you Leon!"

"Why do you want to go to the garden?"

"Because I'm curious to see if this ghost rumor is true."

"If it wasn't for my programming, I wouldn't stop you from for filling your wish."

Alice put her arm around the accessory's shoulders as they walked back to the warren. "It's okay, you're doing really well understanding humans."

...

"I'm back!" Alice announced.

"Ah, I see you've brought what I need." Alice handed Julien the graphite. "I'll head back to my workshop and get started... Oh, and I'm going to need to borrow your accessories, of course." Julien took the accessories and left.

Alice and Mattis spent the next hour shopping for new weapons, when they finished Julien was outside waiting for them.

"That was fast. Thanks Julien." Alice gave slight bow.

"Anytime. Listen, basically I'll added a nice new function to your accessories." Julien raised a finger to his lips. "Do this and it will trigger a scrubbing sequence that will temporary disable surveillance memory. It's known as the 'zip it system'! Pretty nifty, don't you think?"

"Julien, you're the man! I can't wait to test this out! C'mon! Let's hit the cell garden!" Mattis rushed out the door, almost hitting a couple of people. Alice sighed and fallowed.

...

Outside the cell garden, Alice and Mattis turned to their accessories and raised a finger to their lips. Both of the accessories put their hands behind their backs. "Scrubbing sequence initiated. Suspending surveillance protocol."

"It worked! It worked!" Cheered Mattis pumping his fist. "Okay, let's go in!"

The two entered the door, into a large empty room. "This looks like the training center, just dimly lit." Said Alice. The two walked through the door on the other side to find another room that looked the same. They went to the door on other side of it as well, this time as it opened they hid behind the doorframe.

On the other side an accessory was looking around. Alice watched the accessory till it turned its back to them and headed for a door. "Stick close." The sneaked across the room, getting to the next door just as it closes And reopen it.

The accessory looked around some more till it turned right. The sinners fallowed behind again. The accessory looked a door in front of it but took one on its right. When the machine was out of the room the sinners made a break for the door, entering a long hallway with a single pillar in the middle and an accessory walking around it.

The sinners tailed the accessory around the pillar till it had its back to the next door and ran for it.

Inside Alice went for a door on her right when she spotted another accessory, she grabbed Mattis and shoved him a corner. Alice put her hand over his mouth, as the accessory walked right by them.

When it was clear they ran through the door, into another hallway. This time with a pillar that filled the center. Mattis didn't see the accessory and just ran, Alice chased after Mattis.

When an accessory did come around the corner Alice grabbed Mattis, pulling him into an empty space in the pillar and to the other side. As the accessory walked back to where they came from, the sinners got to the end.

...

Now out of the halls Alice and Mattis where in a dark room, with dim pale light everywhere. In the middle was a bridge that lead to a girl with purple thorns binding her to a large white eye shaped ring.

The girl had light sandy hair. Wearing an unzipped hoody, a long sock on her left leg and a thorn wrapped around her right, all in white.

"Hey, I got a bad feeling about this man..." Mattis started backing to where he came in. "We need to get out of here. Like, now."

"But we can't just leave her here. Who she is or whatever she's done, no one deserves this!" Alice took off running towards the imprisoned girl. Mattis waved his hands in defeat and fallowed.

Sirens rang out in the area as it began flashing red, two accessories entered the area.

Mattis looked back and forth between the machines and the prisoner. "Aww, shaz! Y-you got the wrong guy, man! Wait, I can explain I-!"

The machines didn't listen and shot the two sinners with their palms, binding their arms to their sides. "Intruders apprehended in restricted area. Returning offenders to containment cells." The accessories struck the sinners over the head, knocking them out and carrying them back to their cells.

...

After some time had passed Alice slowly open her eyes. "You're awake! Please sit up, your body requires water." The accessory helped Alice sit up and handed her a glass.

She took water and drank in gulps. "Thank you Leon, your very kind."

"It's because it is my duty to do so, but lately it doesn't feel that way. Why is that?" Alice rubbed her machine's hair. "You hate it when I do that so why do you get to do it to me?"

"It's called teasing. You do something to annoy someone but they don't mind, because it shows that you care."

Leon stands up, facing the door. "Natalie will be here in less than a minute." Leon turned back to Alice. "Would you like me to keep her out?"

"It's okay, better now than later." The accessory nodded and stepped aside from the door.

The door opened up, letting Natalie inside. "Do you realize what you were caught doing?" The officer spoke in a foul mood as always.

"Looking for a ghost?"

"Don't lie to me, maggot! Not only were you caught trespassing in a highly restricted area, you now compound your crime by lying to your superior! Your sentence has been extended."

Alice watched her years increase by four hundred years. "That's not fair!"

"Did you find that room purely by accident or...? No. On second thought, I don't want to know." Natalie took a minute to think. "You will not breathe a word about this little debacle to anyone. If you do, the punishment will be swift and I make myself clear?"

"Yes Miss Woo." Alice lowered her head as Natalie left the cell.

Leon went up to the girl and rubbed her hair. "Don't worry about it. Natalie thinks she needs to be tough all the time, or else the sinners will walk all over her."

"Still don't like it when you do that."

"I know, I'm teasing you."

Alice began laughing out loud. "Thank you Leon. I needed that."

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	11. No patience

Chapter. 11

"The new weapons will be ready in the morning."

"Alright, just don't rush it. Call you later." Connar ended the call to his weapon facility and went to bed.

"Would like to-"

"Shut up!" The thief yelled at his accessory and tried to get to sleep. After what felt like a few minutes Connar woke up in the immaterial plain.

Connar sat up on his metal slab of a bed as Aries appeared from the wall. "I'm disappointed in you Connar, you're supposed to find her but it was your friends that did the work."

"If you gave me some information on WHO I'm looking for, maybe I'd make an effort to do as you asked."

Aries pulled her hat over her face. "You have so much potential if you'd just open your eyes-!"

"And become paranoid, jumping at things that aren't there. I'm a realist, if you want ghost chasers go see Alice and Mattis."

"And yet here you are, in a place that can't be explained."

"That's because this isn't real." Connar placed his hands behind his head and rest on the back wall. "I see this place when I'm sleeping, logic says it's a dream. I only humor you to pass the time till I wake up."

Aries gave a menacing smile. "Okay then, if you want proof talk to your friends. Ask them about the girl."

"Fine, fine. I'll humor you a little in the real world, and when they ask what I'm talking about you'll see that your whole 'great transformation' and 'true freedom' is just garbage."

Aries let out a frustrated sigh and left.

Connar awoke and sat up, rubbing his eyes to keep them open. "Good morning."

"Shut up, you stupid machine. And get out of the way, I'm going out."

...

Connar got down to the warren and immediately went to the fueling station, inside he found Alice and Mattis talking quietly. "Hey you two, how's the ghost hunt?"

Alice practically jumped at Connar. "You need to help us! We we're chasing the ghost rumor and found a girl locked up in the cell garden. She looks like she's been through, we have to save her!"

Connar was surprised and horrified, he swallowed it down for later and need to think clearly. "Okay calm down and start over. Leave no details out."

Connar sat with them and listened, growing more concerned with what Aries was telling him. When it was over Mattis was the first to speak. "My old man always told me that if a chick looks like trouble, she probably is. And that chick has trouble written all over her."

"I hope you father didn't say that word for word. Otherwise I sincerely hope you never breed."

"Stop acting like your so much better than me, you shaz!"

"Who said I'm acting?"

"Stop it! Both of you!" Alice stood up, glaring at the two. Mattis looked away while Connar just lazily stared back. "That girl is in trouble and needs help. Our help."

"I hate to ditch a damsel in distress, but I think we gotta leave this one be." Said Mattis.

"Well aren't you just the bravest of the bunch. Jump at the first sigh of adventure, fold at the first sign of trouble."

Mattis jumped up from his sofa. "Who do you think you are!? You act like you're above us when we're looking for the ghost, now you come in and act like you care when a girl is involved? Stop saying your better than me when you want the same as me, you shaz!"

Connar started clapping his hands. "Whoo! Bravo! Great performance, but you're missing something. Ghost are not real, person locked in a dark room for reasons unknown? That's real. I can deal with real."

"Both of you stop it!" Alice slapped the two boys on the back of their heads.

"So, any luck on the wild ghost chase, losers?" The three teens look to find Carlos standing by them.

"And you are?"

Alice got up and stood beside the new comer. "Connar this is Carlos, he helped us get in the garden."

Carlos looked Connar up and down then grinned. "Yeah! You're the one who took my glasses."

"Why would I do that? I don't even know you."

"Don't act like you're innocent, I know it was you and I know a guy who will put you back in code 1."

Connar stared back a Carlos with a blank expiration. "I almost care... wait... nope, false alarm."

"Huh? You three know Carlos?" The group looked to find Uwe had joined.

Connar put his arms back on the sofa. "Well now it's a party."

Carlos gives a creepy chuckle. "Hey, you know me well enough for me to have let you in on my... zippy little secret."

Uwe folded his arms. "Heh. Is that supposed to be you being subtle? I already know it was you who told these clowns about scrubbing, Carlos."

"Oh, don't be like that. I was just teaching these poor, innocent sinners something that will help them survive in this cruel world."

"Don't pull that high and mighty crap with me! Why'd you tell them about that stuff? What if they'd gotten hurt?"

"But they didn't, did they? And they came back with a pretty interesting story too..."

"What is he talking about?" Uwe looks at Alice.

"Natalie said not to talk about it, but there's a girl locked up in the cell garden. We have to save her!"

"You saw the chick, right?" Asked Mattis. "You clocked her threads? Shazheads from On High dress like that. And I ain't in the habit of rescuing those guys."

"So not only are you ill-educated, your also bigoted." Said Connar.

"You think they had her tied up like that because she's a sweet kid with a happy go lucky attitude? Think again genius."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

"Anyway!" Alice tried to get the attention back. "No deserves to be treated like how she is, I'm going back to Julien and asking for his help again." Alice stormed out of the fueling station.

Connar kicked his feet out as he got up and fallowed her.

...

At zakka Alice just greeted Julien when Connar showed up. "Oh, hello Connar. Thank you again for saving me."

"You can thank me by doing me a favor. There's a girl locked up in the cell garden, I want to get her out but Alice here said they've got some good security protection in there. Alice?"

The girl explained what she saw to Julien, who shrugged when she was finished. "From what you've told me, it sounds like the sector was under much tighter security than usual. I'm sorry but I'm afraid it's just too risky for me to get involved."

"Well I guess that's that then." Connar stepped back, dusting off his hands.

"I'm really sorry though."

"But we have to help her!"

"If Julien won't do it, he won't do it." Connar waved his hands forward. "It's cool, I mean it's not we can... I don't know, blackmail him to do it."

"What!?" The other two shouted.

"I mean Julien must be a really good engineer to remember to remove his fingerprints from you and Mattis' accessories, right?"

"You can't! We'll all get in trouble."

"Not me Alice. I go to the authorities, you and Mattis get more years. And Julien, oh ho they're gonna have fun with you."

Julien was starting to panic. "You monster! I have a family to take care of!"

"You're, looking at it rationally. You have people who depend on you, that need you to provide for them. Which you can't do as a sinner. Me? I'm not rational, I feel like ratting you all out if I don't get what I want."

Alice tried to punch Connar but he stepped out of the way, letting her hit the ground. "You're evil Connar!"

Connar just put up his hands and smiled at her. "I try not to be, but sometimes when you want something, you gotta throw someone under a bus." Connar turned back to Julien. "So, what'll it be?"

"Okay! Okay I surrender. I'll do it, but I need some rare resources-"

"Just give me a list and where to find them." Julien wrote the names of a few items and handed it to Connar, who stuffed it in has jacket and walked out of zakka.

...

Once outside Alice chased after the thief. "I can't believe you, how could you do that to him!"

"Oh, don't even start, okay? You wanted my help, you're getting it. You'd have do the same thing."

"No I wouldn't have, I'd have talked and convened him to help. That's what normal people do, that's what a friend would do."

"I told you, I'm not here to make friends, I have sentence to work off. Nothing more, nothing less."

"You said you'd make friends!"

"No I said I'd try. How hard was never determined."

Alice stood still, watching Connar leave till he was halfway up the stairs. "How do you live with yourself?"

Connar stopped and turned back to her. "Easy! I don't, I have a fake human robot that won't stop staring at me." He pointed to his accessory with his thumb.

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	12. Gears of change

Chapter. 12

The transport ride was an uneasy one at best. Alice explained what the situation was to Mattis while Connar slept in his seat across from them.

"The shaz? He's blackmailing us, this was OUR adventure!" Complained Mattis.

"I know, but we have to do it, at least to save her."

Connar opened one eye to look at the two sinners. "You know I can hear you, right?"

Alice just rolled her eyes. "There's gonna be abductors in the area-"

"Two of them, artillery modes."

"Thank you Connar!"

"Just saying, we'll need a plan-"

"No way!" Mattis stood up from his seat. "You're not the leader, Alice is a code above us. She should lead."

"Okay, what's the plan?" Alice closed her eyes and lead back to think. "We're waiting..."

"Just shut up already!"

"Look, I say two of us fight the abductors while the other goes looking for the stuff Julien needs."

Mattis nods. "Yeah, and you'll be the gathering the resources!"

Connar looks at Mattis. "You think you can take an artillery mode? What's one look like?"

"Uh, uh... You're getting the resource shaz!"

Connar closed his eye and stretched his arms up. "No, you're doing that. Any other way will get you killed."

"So you do care." Grinned Alice.

"You want make something of it?"

...

The transport stopped letting the sinners out in the dessert. Alice and Mattis drew their guns, opening fire on the nearest abductor.

Connar drew his new great sword, leaving the first abductor to the others and went after the second one.

Connar used his thorn to grapple the abductor's leg and dragged it down, once down Connar hacked and slashed at the machine till it stood up. "Stay, down!" Connar swung the large sword as hard as he could, cutting off the abductor's leg at the knee.

The abductor's cannon on top of it started spinning and shooting bombs. Connar stayed right next to the machine to avoid the blasts, when it was over the thief grappled to the cannon switching to another new weapon, a small chainsaw sword.

The sword slowly cut through the cannon barrel, the cannon started spinning to shoot again. Connar pushed his sword on the barrel, against the rotation. It was still strong enough to push the sinner back, but only till Connar finished cut off the cannon.

Connar jump off and switched to his great sword, slashing at the abductor while it tries to stand with its one leg until Connar ended it with one final swing through its systems.

...

Meanwhile Alice and Mattis' thorns grappled to the abductor's legs, dragging down. Mattis changed to his sword and slashed at the abductor. Alice grappled to the abductor's pod, shooting it point blank.

When the abductor stood up Alice's gunfire broke the pod, forcing it down again. Alice jumped off the machine, switching to her spear as she hit the ground.

Mattis and Alice attacked from both sides of the abductor, cutting through the metal and getting to will'o engine. The abductor got up and started running away. The sinners switched back to their guns, running alongside the machine and shooting the damaged sides they made.

Mattis let out breathe of relief till he heard an explosion, relieving Connar just finished the other abductor. The three sinners separated to find the materials and returned to the transport.

Inside Connar looked over the list, with everything a counted for he crumpled up the paper and tossed it.

...

The group return to zakka, finding Julien in his usual spot. Connar pulls he items out of his jacket, handing them to the citizen. "We got what you wanted."

"Thank you. These will allow me to disrupt the sensors in the sector you're headed for, and hopefully keep you out of trouble."

"Thank you for your help Julien." Said Alice.

"I'm going to head to my workshop and get things in order. It won't take long, so feel free to head over to the cell garden. It's never good to keep a lady waiting... Oh, a word of warning: since your last escapade, they've put a lot more guards on patrol."

Connar waved his hand to dismiss the argument. "I'll be going in alone, just make sure this goes well."

"Are you going?" Asked Mattis.

"Because I'm the only one here to be a proven thief. Now are there any more questions, or can we begin?"

Mattis threw his hands up as Connar walked away. "What's up with that guy?! Why is he so interested in saving some girl from On High?"

"Maybe Connar's from On High too?" Alice was getting curious about Connar as well and fallowed him.

...

Connar returned to the code 2 cell block, with Alice right behind him. "You sure you can do this?"

The thief adjusted his sleeves as he looked at the garden entrance. "I got this." Connar gave Alice a grin and a thumbs up as he went to the terminal. After he pressed a few buttons his accessory chimed in.

"Entry to this sector of the general purpose movable cell-"

"Shut the hell up!" Connar pulled back on his left sleeve, there was a metal device on his arm, under his wrist. Connar moved his hand back and a thin five inch metal blade shot out of the device.

Connar thrusted the blade into the accessory's neck, shutting it down. The sinner relaxed his hand and blade retracted. "You have no idea how long I've wanted to do that."

Alice stepped back from Conner in suprise. The thief noticed this and extended the blade again. "Like my hidden blade? It's good for close in counters and if you want to kill someone really badly." Connar took off his jacket, revealing the hidden blade on his right arm as well.

"Don't let anyone else in, I'll be back with the girl."

...

Inside the garden Connar crept through the halls, at the he found a room with a pair of accessories walking back and forth. When the turned their back Connar quickly and quietly snuck up on them and put both his hidden blades through their necks.

In the next area Connar hid behind a large pillar in the center of the room. He looked around and saw and accessory walking away, Connar knocked on the wall till the machine stopped at turned back to him.

On the other side of the pillar another accessory came around, spotting the sinner. Connar tried to stab the accessory but it caught his arm before the blade reached its throat.

The accessory put up its hand to bind Connar, the thief grabbed its arm and pointed it up. Connar swung the accessory around and slammed it into the pillar, stabbing it in the back of the neck.

The accessory Connar lured to him showed up and put out its hand. Connar swung the body around to block the accessory binder and puched the body at it. After the accessory shoved the broken machine aside Connar thrusted his hidden blades through the neck then kneed it away.

The next room was an accessory stood right in front of Connar, the sinner immediately went to stabbed it. The accessory caught his hand with both of its but Connar just stabbed it in the neck with his other blade and dragged it around the door way.

The inside was a narrow hallway with an accessory walking away from him. This time kicked off the walls to get higher then used the momentum to go forward. When he was over the accessory his shadow caused it to turn get a blade through the forehead.

In the last room Connar saw the door that Alice deceived that held the girl, waited a moment and a pair of accessories walked in from the sides, looked left, then right, and finally turned back.

Connar waited a couple of minutes for the accessories to come back, looking back a few times to make sure he wasn't fallowed. When the accessories came back Connar ran towards them. The robots turned to the sounds of footsteps and blades put through their necks.

The sinner ran for the door, as nothing stood in his way. The final door opened up as one more accessory stood in his way, Connar grabbed the machine by the shoulder and stabbed it in the chest while not slowing down. Inside Connar pushed the accessory off the lit path, letting it fall into the dark abyss.

All the cameras in the dark room turned to Connar but no alarm was raised, as Connar dashed to the center. Where the girl was still tied up with purple thorns.

_"So, this is the one who will show me true freedom? This Panopticon must really hate On High if their keeping just one person like this." _The thief started cut the thorns with his hidden blade while pulling it off. _"If it means getting me out of this nightmare, I'm fine with some anarchy."_

When enough thorns were removed the rest just disintegrated, dropping the girl into Connar's arms. She opened her eyes, showing they were the same sandy color as her hair. "Are you...? Have you...?" She leaned back to rest her hands on Connar's face. "You came to rescue me..."

Connar took her hands and quickly lowered them. "What do you know about the great transformation?!"

The two were interrupted by a loud machine sound. The girl stood up, seemingly to know the sound. "That sound... It is a will'o engine... One of ours."

"What is it?!"

"Retribution..."

"Now?! Of all times, now? Alright, get on my back." The sinner turned around, the girl put her arms around his neck while he picks up her legs. "If you're right I'm not dying under rubble when this place stars coming down."

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	13. A new machine

Chapter. 13

Connar came running out of the cell garden, carrying the strange girl on his back. The cell block area was red with alarms. Connar stopped running when he spotted Alice, Mattis, and Julien waiting for him.

"There you are! I was starting to worry about you!" Said Mattis.

"I don't swing that way." Connar kneeled down to let the girl off his back.

"Now is so not the time for jokes! We've got a full on retribution here!"

"Yeah, she heard it from down there." Connar pointed to the girl, now standing up but with her hands on her knees. "What's the situation? How bad is it?"

Alice nodded to answer. "Like Mattis said we've got a retribution on our hands, the abductors are destroying the con while stealing will'o generators and citizens. The sinners are kill anyone that gets in the way."

"Some of the ugliest beasts you've ever seen are busy tearing the shaz out of our beloved panopticon!" Cried Mattis. "Uwe and his crew have already gone to fight them back. We need to help'em, ASAP!"

"Understood." Connar turned to Julien. "You take her somewhere safe and keep her there till this ends."

"Okay-"

"I mean it Julien! Don't screw me on this."

It became clear that the citizen was becoming afraid of Connar. "I have a spare cell set aside, just in case. The authorities have enough on their plate right now. I very much doubt they'll come looking for her anytime soon."

The destruction from outsider was getting louder, almost warning the group it was getting closer. Julien took the girl's hand and ran off with her.

Alice and Mattis drew their assault rifles with Connar drew his great sword.

Apart from the sirens the three sinners waited in silence till the wall broke open. Coming through was a large white tiger like abductor, with light green wings on its back. Uwe and Carlos entered the cell block, fallowing the machine

Alice, Mattis, and their accessories opened fire on the abductor, Connar ran for the stairs.

The tiger roared and charged at the four gunners, the sinners got out of the way, but the accessories were stomped down.

Uwe used his rocket launcher, blasting the abductor. "Listen up, sinners! This ain't ideal, but we don't have a choice. We're all gonna have to work together on this one!"

"Aww, don't be like that Uwe!" Carlos laughed, shooting the abductor with his assault weapon. "The more the merrier, no?"

"We'll do our best!" Alice used her thorn to revive her accessory then continue shooting the abductor. "For the greater good!"

When the abductor ran to the other side of the cell block Mattis' thorn latched on to its hind leg, Uwe's thorn latched on to the other hind leg. Together they pulled, dragging the tiger down.

Carlos and Alice switched to their spears, Alice stabbing and slashing the abductor's left side while Carlos did the same on the right.

The machine stood up and roared, causing the spear users to cover their ears.

"Shut the hell up!" Connar jumped for the highest railing, he pointed his sword down, impaling it into the tiger's right shoulder. Connar fell backwards after the attack. He landed on the ground and did a backward roll to get on his feet, drawing his chainsaw sword at the end.

With the great sword lodged in it arm the tiger's will'o connecters were severed, locking its arm in place.

Uwe loaded his launched for a few more shots. "Great job sinner."

"That should slow it down!" As if to respond to Mattis the roared to the roof, shooting a beam of light from its mouth. An orb of black energy formed near everyone and exploded. While everyone was down the abductor ran around to stomp on them. Lucky the sinners just got out of its way.

"Careful sinners!" Shouted Uwe. It lost its arm but it's still fast, when it comes for you, move! Don't be a hero!"

Carlos snicked. "Oh, don't worry, I won't be."

_"Of course a snake would never stick its neck out for others."_ Thought Connar. _"What am I saying?! Just broke this thing, that's all that matters!"_ Connar spotted Mattis' downed accessory and threw his thorn at it, taking its gun and shooting the abductor.

The abductor leaped into the air and hover, a large white ring began forming over it. Alice grappled to the tiger's containment pod and opened fire.

The white shrunk down to a glowing orb that launched multiple homing will'o bullets at its enemies.

Uwe's thorn made a thorn wall to block the attack but everyone else was down and out. Looking around he threw his thorn too revive Carlos.

Leon, who took cover under the stairs leaned out to carefully shoot the abductor in the head, trying not to hit Alice. When to attack was over the abductor shook off Alice as it landed.

Carlos put out his arm to catch the falling girl. "Thank you." She said as he let her down.

Leon ran out to Connar, kneeling down to revive him. "You're dead!" He shouted getting back on his feet.

The abductor leaped to launch the same attack again. "This is bad. Connar, revive everyone!" Yelled Uwe.

The thief didn't listen and grappled to the abductor's containment pod. He thrusted his weapon into the pod, dragging it down while the blades helped cut it open.

"Connar!" Alice cried. The abductor crashed to the ground, struggling to stand up with a locked up front leg.

Connar climbed on to its shoulder and prided his sword out. He jumped off the machine and brought his great sword down on it neck, decapitating it. Connar shoved his chainsaw sword into its neck for extra damage.

The abductor's body started blowing up all over till it's explodes were large enough to throw him back.

Everyone took a breath of relief now that the machine was destroyed. After Connar sheathed his weapons, Uwe struck him in the chest, putting Connar on his knees. "What was that?! You disobeyed a direct order, people would've gotten killed for it!"

Connar coughed a few times while holding his chest. "And? I did want was right, sometimes the best choice isn't the population choice." The thief stood on his shacking feet. "How many people died today? You can't save everyone, and anyone thinks you can is a fool."

Uwe clinched his fists and walked away. Went back to cell garden entrance and used his thorn on his accessory, then slowly walked to his cell.

Carlos put away his weapon and ran his hand over his hair. "Well that was entertaining." He was about to leave when Alice grabbed his arm.

"Carlos? Thank you for catching me back there."

"Hahahaha! Like I said, don't thank me, pay me. Though from you... "Carlos stepped closer to the girl." A little kiss would be enough."

"Really?" Alice tilted her head. Carlos leaned closer, but Leon grabbed back of his shirt, hurling him away by a good ten feet. "Leon!"

"Sorry, I thought he meant to harm you."

Alice shook her head with her hands on her hips. "Well, thank you for the protection."

"Of course." The accessory bowed.

...

Connar opened his cell door and when face first into his bed, going to sleep fast. He opened his eyes as everything when purple. "Not again."

Aries fazed through his giant monitor right on quo. "Finally! We're a step closer to the great transformation at last!" Aries expiration became serious. "But now that you've found her, you need to make sure you don't lose her again..."

"You still didn't tell me how this girl, who I still don't know the name of will get me your true freedom."

"Listen, mess up even a bit, and it's over for the world." Aries pulled her hat over her face. "No pressure, but it's all up to you now."

"Well, thanks for that."

"Good luck, I'll see you around!" Aries winked at the sinner, just before everything when dark for him.

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	14. The girl and the big dog

Chapter. 14

After the conversation with Aries, Connar awaked to another day. "Good morning. Incoming message from the committee for social selection."

"It is way too early for this." Connar yawned while rubbing the sides of his eyes.

The cameras chimed then Persy appeared on the large screen. "Greetings sinner! Prick up your ears, because I'm here to announce the result of your code 3 exam. Ready or not here it comes..."

Connar dragged his hand down his face. "Could you repeat that? I wasn't listening."

"You passed!" Percy clapped on screen.

"Passed what?"

"What's that, you don't remember? Did you lose your memory?!" The bear started throwing a fit, then instantly stopped. "I'm sure you recall, you made a fine contribution to the defense of your panopticon in the recent retribution. You gave that nasty old abductor what for!"

Percy clapped it hands in joy. "For a counterproductive drain on your society's resources, you didn't do too badly! In recognition of your sterling effects, you have been awarded level 3 code clearance."

"Yeah..." Connar waved his with fake enthusiasm.

"Keep up the good work!" The screen zoned in on Percy's face. "And remember, your panopticon is always watching you! So be sure to give it everything you've got, and contribute until you can contribute no more! For the greater good!"

After Percy vanished Connar went to the screen to check on what he got. He used his entitlement points to buy the type 88 military suit with white pants, boots and gloves, and an orange shirt under a snow camouflaged jacket with his hidden blades over the sleeves.

In his new outfit Connar went straight for the door, shoving his accessory out of the way.

...

Outside in the cell block Connar meet up with Mattis and Julien. "Congratulations on making it to code 3! I hear it wasn't easy..."

"Where's the girl?" Connar cut off the citizen.

"Don't worry, she's safe."

"I'll believe it when I see it."

"What? You calling him a liar?!" Shouted Mattis.

Connar pinched his nose and sighed. "It's not that I don't trust you, I don't trust anyone."

"Well she's right here!" The guys looked behind them to see Alice and the girl walking towards them. The girl wore a pink shirt with a black right sleeve, a grey skirt with pouches, her left legging was grey and the right was black with a white thorn wrapped around it.

"What do you boys think? I got her some new clothes so no one will know she's from On High." Alice put her hands on her hips, proud of her work.

The looked over the group before locking eyes with Connar. "Thank you for what you did for me."

"What do you know about the great transformation?"

Everyone glanced at the girl confusingly. "I'm sorry, I don't know-"

"Then forgot I asked then."

"Connar!" Alice stomps her foot with a huff. "She's thanking you for saving, then you ask a weird question, and don't even let her finish talking."

"Can you skip to the part where I care?"

"Aahh, you ugh!" Alice took a deep breath then talked the girl. "You'll have to excuse Connar, he's not what you'd call a people person. We still didn't get your name though."

"My name is Beatrice."

"Well then, welcome to the team Beatrice." Alice offered a handshake. "I'm Alice the pink haired guy is Mattis, the citizen is Julien, and you know Connar. So how did you end up in that room?"

"Ah, yes, I've been meaning to ask myself." Said Julien. "But I wanted to wait until you were feeling better. Why on earth were they keeping you down there like that? Just who are you?"

Beatrice stared at the ground, thinking of what to say. "I am from On High."

"Man, I told you so..." Said Mattis.

Alice waved off Mattis' comment. "So why are you down here?"

"I'm searching for my father. My parents always vehemently opposed the idea of exploiting surface dwellers for our own ends. For this they were ostracized and persecuted."

Beatrice's story got Connar's attention. "That similar to what happened with my parents. Guess that's just the way of this world, when someone gets the idea to say 'let's stop the fighting' someone in power tells them to shut up and sit down."

Beatrice nods to Connar, feeling sorry for him. "Eleven years ago, my mother died... And not long afterward, my father descended to the land below... He disappeared without saying a word... it was so sudden..."

Alice placed her hand on Beatrice's back to comfort her. "His detractors circulated all manner of rumors, that grief had driven him mad... That he had been seduced by a young woman and lured away from his home On High..."

"That must be hard."

"But I knew that none of them were true." Beatrice's voice was filled with pride. "For years, I searched for the truth. Then, recently, I discovered that he had alighted somewhere near this panopticon, and I descended in the hope of finding him."

"Well that was dumb of you." Connar put bluntly.

"Hey guy, watch your mouth you shaz! This chick's been through a lot." Mattis started yelling at Connar, but the thief ignored him and continued looking at Beatrice.

"He's right. No sooner had I alighted myself than I was surrounded and taken captive. Since then, I have been in there, in the room where you found me..."

"Why were they keeping you there?" Asked Alice.

"I wish I knew. They conducted all manner of test on me. It seemed they were performing some kind of research."

Julien shook his head. "This doesn't make any sense... Don't tell anyone I told you this, but it's not that unusual to find people from On High down here."

"You're kidding me!" said Mattis in surprise.

"Why? On High is supposed to be this super easy life place in the sky right? Are people really that retarded?"

"Connar, that's a mean thing to say."

"I'm a mean person, thought you'd have learned that by now Alice."

Beatrice glanced between the two then to Mattis. "Is his always like this?"

"Every day, the shaz, ow!"

Connar struck his palm on Mattis' forehead. "I've told you, shaz is not a word. From now on I'm gonna smack you every time you say it till you stop."

"If he acts like this then why do you all hang out with him?" Asked Beatrice.

"And just what do you worms think you're doing?" The group spun around to find Natalie before them.

Alice leaned closer to Beatrice and whispered to her. "Watch, this is why we keep Connar around."

Connar scowled at the woman. "None of your business, lap dog."

Natalie stomped her foot at the sinner. "You'd best know your place maggot."

"Yeah, with my boot up your ass. If you got a point, make it. I've got better things to do, like watch paint dry." Natalie add a hundred years to Connar's sentence. "That the best you can do?"

"Silence!"

"Make me!" Connar stepped forward, extending his right hidden blade. "Give me a reason, half a reason will do."

"I don't have time for you, so I'll keep this brief." Natalie backed off of the thief.

"Convenient for you, isn't it?" Connar retracted his blade.

"As you all know, our panopticon suffered severe damage during the recent retribution. It is your duty as sinners to assist with cleanup operations." The officer types on her device. "I've issued and assigned you all one. I suggest you sign up for it right away."

"We'll get around to it."

"Care to repeat that!"

"Did I stutter?" Connar waved her off. "Now run along before I bloody your coat."

As Connar turned his back on Natalie she drew her short, keeping it an inch from his head. "I will not be dismissed by a nothing like you!"

Connar extended his blade, spun around and knocked the sword away. Connar then kicked Natalie in the knee then punched her in the face, sending her to the ground. He kneeled down beside Natalie, pointing his hidden blade over her eye. "And I won't be looked down upon by a lap dog."

Connar stood up, straightened his jacket, and when back to his cell while Natalie's accessories came to help her up.

Beatrice turned to Alice who wore a big smile. "That's why, he keeps Natalie away."

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	15. Just another day

Chapter. 15

It was high noon as the transport moved through the blazing desert. Inside Alice and Mattis checked their guns while Connar slept and Beatrice just sat in her seat. "This is... My first operation."

Connar opened one eye to the new sinner. "Just stick close to me, stay low and you'll live."

"That's ever so kind of you. But I'm a little nervous nonetheless."

"Hey Connar, why are you so nice Beatrice?" Asked Alice.

The thief laid back, closing his eye. "Do I need a reason?"

"Yeah! In all the time I've known you, you've had only two emotions. Anger and boredom." Connar didn't answer, making the ride more awkward. Alice cleared her throat to address Beatrice. "So, B. Care to tell us all something about yourself?"

"Oh, well... Umm..."

"Don't be scared, anything will do."

"Let's see... I used to work as an engineer."

"What was that like?"

Beatrice perked up at the question. "I was responsible for abductor maintenance. There is nothing in the world I love more than tinkering with will'o mechanism. Truly, I could talk about them all day! Imagine my surprise when I learned that accessories were based on the very same technology!"

_"For the love of god, someone shut this chatterbox up!"_Connar was screaming in his head. _"Hope I don't need her to speak, because I really want to cut her tongue out."_

"And to think that I now have an accessory of my very own to love and care for and tinker with! Why, I can hardly contain myself!"

"Guess you really like machines." Alice was glad the new member was opening up. "Next time my accessory needs a tune up can I ask you to do it?"

Beatrice nods very quickly. "Yes, of course! Nothing makes me happier in the whole world! I mean even thinking about the simple elegance of how the kulkarni-Askalonov field is converted int-"

The transport stops and Mattis jumps from his seat. "Aww, shaz! Would you look at that? We're here already! Guess we'll have to save the nerd talk for another time!" The door lowered and Mattis was the first one out.

"Alright Connar, you said you'd protect Beatrice so you better be true to your word!" Alice loaded her gun and got out as well, followed by Beatrice.

Connar stood and exited the transport, drawing his chainsaw sword. In the open the sinners got to see their target, the multipurpose quadruped. The machine looked like the top half of a normal biped with four legs, and armed with mini guns on its arms.

Everyone rushed in on the abductor, firing at its head and torso. Connar walked around the action, watching and waiting for the right time.

The abductor roared and charged at the sinners. Its first target was going to be Leon, it swung down at the accessory to pit it up. Alice wrapped her arms around the accessory from behind and tossed him aside.

The abductor scooped up Alice and began to squeeze. Connar grappled to the machine's arm and swiftly cut through the wrist.

Mattis helped Alice back on her feet so the two's thorns could pull the abductor down. The abductor tried to shoot at the accessories but it only got Beatrice's before it fell to the ground.

Beatrice grappled onto the machine's torso and cut it open with her knife. "I know it hurt, but be strong. It'll be over soon."

_"Is she talking to this thing?"_ Connar climbed up on one of the mini guns and pushed his sword against the arm, letting his chainsaw do the work.

Alice switched to her spear and grappled to the head and stabbed it repeatedly. Mattis switched to his gray sword and slashed at the legs.

When the abductor stood back up Beatrice broke open the will'o pod and knocked it down again, followed by Connar tearing off the arm and Alice breaking head. With the damage done by the accessories gunfire the abductor didn't get up again.

"Yeah! The dream team do it again!" Cheered Mattis.

Beatrice on the other hand wasn't so cheerful. "Imagine what your beautiful kind might achieve in a world no longer at war... Perhaps we shall find out one day."

"Hey!" Connar shouted to Alice. "Why did you save your accessory?"

"What?"

"You willingly risked your life to save a machine, why?"

"Because Leon is my friend." Connar just stared at her confusingly. "Leon! You okay?"

The accessory picked up some resources from the wrecked abductor and handed them to Alice. "I'm fine, I'm sorry, I failed to protect you."

"What is this?" Connar stepped closer to examine the accessory. "What did you do to your robot?"

"Nothing, Leon's always been like this since I became a sinner."

Connar folded his arms and sneered at Alice. "Like I believe that."

"It is true." Leon put out its hand to Connar. "I am Leon, Alice's accessory. For as long as I can remember I've always been like this, caring more for Alice's safety then orders." Connar hesitatingly takes the accessory's hand and shacks it. "You are a good friend to Alice, despite how you act around others. Please help me defend her."

Connar pulled his hand back, looking at it then turned to Alice. "Okay, I'm kind of weirded out right now."

"I've had some of my citizen friends look at him but none of them found anything."

"Guess it would be nice to have someone in your cell that can hold a conversation."

Leon scanned Alice's body and took out a mid-kit from its coat. "Alice, you have light browses on the sides of your stomach. Can you please remove your dress so I can tend to it?"

"What?" Alice thought about it for a second before her face turned red. "What?! No, I'm fine Leon."

"You can't lie to a machine." Laughed Connar.

"He's right, if left untreated you might feel slight irritation later."

"I said no! We'll deal with it later, with less people around." Alice ran back to transport.

"I fail to understand."

Connar patted the accessory on the back. "It's a human thing, you wouldn't understand."

...

And hour after returning to the panopticon, Connar lied on his bed watching the construct of a new weapon on the screen. The sound of footsteps drew his attention as his accessory moved to a corner and the door opened, letting in Natalie and two of her accessories.

Connar sat up to greet his unwanted guest. "I think you want Mattis' cell, I don't do booty calls."

Natalie glared at the thief. "Don't get cheeky with me you impudent worm!"

"Then don't be a high and mighty lap dog with me, though we both know that's not gonna change either."

Natalie continued to scowl at Connar, but it quickly proved to be futile. "I've been asked to inform you that your performance in the battle against the abductor from On High did not go unnoticed by the authorities. Now you just need to prove that it wasn't a fluke."

"Well, ain't that sweet of you."

"You can check the details of the latest operation in the contributions directory. Dismissed."

Connar get up from his bed and stood up. "Dismissed? This is my cell."

"Oh, one more thing." Natalie's accessories held out their hands, binding Connar's arms to his sides.

Natalie punched the sinner in the face then kicked him into the back wall. She grabbed the back of his head and slammed it on the bed, when Connar fell on the floor Natalie stomped on his back a couple of times. "I own you, you little wretch. I can make your life an even worse hell then it already is, so think about that the next time you come at me."

The stability officer kicked Connar in the head then walked out.

The binding wore off, letting Connar use his arms again. The thief laid on the floor, waiting for the pain to subside. "I'll kill you, you arrogant lap dog."

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	16. Flickering light

Chapter. 16

From in her cell Alice could hear the sounds of footsteps, a moment later her cell door opened, letting Natalie walk in. "Ah, hello miss Woo." Alice greeted with a bow.

"I've issued another cleanup operation to you, you can check the details of the latest operation in the contributions directory. Dismissed."

"Thank you Miss Woo." The officer turned and left the cell. "We got some more work Leon."

"Is just me or did she seem more happy then usual?" Asked the accessory.

"Well she is a person, maybe something good happened to her."

...

In another cell block Connar burst out of his cell fuming with rage. He descended from the staircase and ran into Hal and Ann. "Hey Connar! How-"

"Move aside!" The thief shoved them both away as his head for the elevator.

In his haste Connor was getting too far ahead of his accessory. "Too far from accessory additional twenty years -"

Connar used his thorn to pull the machine to him, dragging it with him. He rode the lift down to the transport bay, where Mattis and Beatrice waited.

"Hey Connar!" The thief ignored Mattis greeting and threw his accessory into the transport. "Well hello to you too."

Beatrice was appalled by Connar's disregard for his accessory. "How can you do that to your accessory? They need to treat with love and care-"

Connar pointed one his blades at her. "I'm in a very, VERY bad mood right now. Either you sit down or leave, it makes no difference to me. Either way shut the hell up."

"Hey everyone, what are you doing!?" Alice arrived and ran to guard Beatrice. Connar retracted his blade and went inside. "What wrong with you?"

"Other than Natalie using my head as a kickball, nothing."

"Hahahaha! Mr. Invincible got beaten by Natalie, hahahaha!" Connar would've put his blade through Mattis' neck if Alice and Beatrice didn't grab his arms.

...

A few minutes had passed after the sinner's board the transport to be taken to their next battle. Unlike the other trips Connar was wide awake and glanced around the transport with anger in his eyes.

Mattis, unfazed by Connar was taping his feet on the metal floor. "Heh. This operation is gonna be a piece of cake! Let's get her done and hit the fueling station for some cold ones."

"Hee hee! This is really fun!" Giggled Beatrice.

"What are you gettin' so worked up about? Ain't nothin' exciting about a milk run like this?"

Beatrice shook her head. "No, it's not the operation... it's the feeling... The sense that we are all in this together. I don't believe that I've ever experienced it before."

"Yeah! I know exactly how you feel." Said Alice.

Mattis laughed at the girls. "Feelin'the love, huh? Can't blame you! Come on dream team, let's kick some shaz!" Connar punched Mattis in the ribs. "Hey, stop doing that!"

"You're lucky I didn't stab you."

The transport stopped in the geo front, an underground storage facility. When the door opened Connar jumped from his seat and took off in a dead run.

"Connar!" Alice cried, drawing her spear.

"Here we go..." Mattis sighed as her and Beatrice fallowed with their guns.

Right out of the gate Connar spotted a large floating orb with a red eye, Connar drew his new weapon, a giant cinder block hammer. The sinner leaped at the orb and smashed it. The containment field on the back of the orb shut down, freeing the citizen inside.

Connar ignored the citizen and ran for it. Alice kneeled down and picked up the citizen, who was shaking in her arms and handed them to Beatrice. Take him to safety, I need to fallow Connar and stop him from doing something stupid."

"Okay!" Beatrice took the citizen and ran back.

Connar found the second orb and smashed like the first. "More..." The sinner found a biped abductor with mini guns attached to its arm. "More!" He let the citizen to fight the machine.

Alice chased Connar and stopped to get the citizen. "Mattis, take her back, I'll keep on the fool."

"Just don't let that shaz die." Mattis picked up the citizen and ran back.

As Alice ran after the thief she was cut off by an artillery model abductor. "I don't have time for this!" She threw her spear to several one of its missile launchers and drew her gun. "Leon shot the turret on top!"

"Yes Alice!"

...

"Rrrrrraaaaaahhhhhh!" Connar swung his hammer at the abductor's legs, knocking it down. He raised his hammer and smashed one of the legs over and over till it came off the body. "You're not getting away..."

The abductor sat up then pointed its guns at the sinner. Connar swung his hammer into the left gun slamming it into the right. "Can a machine feel fear? Ha ha... hahahaha!" Connar smashed the barrel of the mini guns till they were unusable.

The abductor tried to slap Connar away, but the sinner struck back with his hammer, destroying the abductor's hands.

Connar grappled to the abductor's head and stroked it on the face, knocking it on its back. "More, more!" Connar smashed the abductor's head, the machine twitched less with each hit. "Die... die, die, die, diediediedie, DIE! Hahahahahaha!"

Alice heard Connar's laughed and turned to him. He was raising his hammer tothe abductor's containment pod and destroying it. "Leon! Hold off the artillery!"

"I'll do one better, I'll break it!" Leon fired at the abductor's other missile pod, a bullet hit one of the missiles coming out and destroying the whole side of the machine.

Connar brought his hammer down on the pod and destroyed it, the citizen climbed out but froze when Connar raised his back hammer again.

"Stop it Connar!" Alice threw her thorn at Connar's hammer, pulling it away from him. "He's free, control yourself! You're not a killer!" Connar looked around and spotted the last abductor orb, Beatrice and Mattis destroying it and saving the citizen.

Connar stood still, just staring at his feet. Alice walked by him and picked of the citizen, who was hiding her face in Alice's chest. "What is wrong with you Connar? It's like your turning into monster, I knew you had anger issues but now it's like I don't know you anymore."

Leon blasted the abductor apart and chased after Alice. "Abductor destroyed, would you like me to carry her for you?"

"No thank you Leon just keep me covered. Okay?"

"Of course." Leon turned to Connar who silently retrieved his hammer.

...

Back at the panopticon, the four sinners ran into Uwe and Carlos. "You lot been out on clean up duty too? Hope you had as much fun as we did." Alice glanced at Connar who avoided eye contact with everyone.

Uwe then took notice of Beatrice. "Huh? Is this her? The girl you sinners were so keen to risk your necks for?"

Beatrice greet Uwe with a bow. "It's a pleasure to make your acquainted."

"Likewise. The names Uwe. And this deadbeat here is Carlos. If there's anything we can do for you, just say the word. Oh, and don't worry. I'll leave it to the folks more important than me to worry about who you are and where you came from."

"So, how's the reconstruction going?" Asked Alice.

"There's a hell of a lot still to be done, but that's always the way with retributions. What can you do?"

"Listen up!" Carlos spoke up to get everyone's attention. "You idiots might not be bothered about where this girl came from, but I sure as hell am."

Alice tilted her head. "What do you mean?"

"She was being held on the cell garden, right? Under some kind of ridiculously tight security? Did you geniuses stop to think for a second that there might be a very good reason for that?"

"I'm not a bad person. I merely... I..." Beatrice was buckling under the pressure of everyone's stares.

"Beatrice is a good girl and has nothing to be ashamed of!" Alice stood beside Beatrice, defending her.

"No, it's better that they know."

"You sure?"

Beatrice nods. "I... I'm from On High."

Uwe slowly crosses his arms. "So that's it, huh?"

"And?" Asked Carlos. "Refugees from On High are ten a penny down here. Although it's pretty rare to have one confess to the fact."

"True. Ain't often one of 'em comes right out with it like that...

"Carlos gives a quick look around the cell block." Well, I don't see a horde of OPS goons rushing to arrest you for your little discretion. They must be stretched to the limit, I suppose. That's good to know."

Alice tapped Beatrice on the shoulder. "Hey, why not ask them if they know about your father?"

"You're right. I actually came here to search for my father. I understood that he alighted somewhere close to this panopticon. But as soon as I alighted, I was apprehended and... Well, you know the rest."

"What's your father's name?" Asked Uwe.

"Cesare. Have you ever heard of someone by that name?"

"Cesare, you say? Nope. Can't help you, I'm afraid."

Carlos waves his hands up. "Me neither. I don't have much of a memory for boring trivia.

"Ha!" Connar snorted. "A snake like you would remember everyone's name and face. For when the time comes to use them."

"Well, well. The silent sinner speaks, can't resist an opportunity to bash me, can you?" Connar slowly looked up to Carlos, with murderous intend.

"Anyway!" Alice shouted to shift the tension. "Now we have a name, so now we have a lead to find Beatrice's dad."

"Shaz, yeah! That's a great idea!" Mattis cheered. "With the dream team on the case, we'll find him in no time."

Uwe nodded to agree. "Let me see what I can do. I know a couple of guys whose idea of fun is to go rummaging through dusty databases."

Beatrice brightened up from the offer. "Really!? You would do that for me?"

"Heh. Who knows, I might even help out too. But don't hold your breath." Said Carlos.

Alice went up to Carlos and held his hands in hers. "Please help her, it'll mean so much both of us."

Carlos was taken aback by the gesture, je pulled away his hand and put them on his hips. "Well, if you put it like that how can I say no?"

"Thank you so much!" Both Alice and Beatrice gave slight bow.

Uwe coughed to clear his throat. "Now, unless I'm mistaken, you sinners have had a long day. That operation must have taken it out of you. You should head back to your cells and hit the hay."

The group dispersed and went their separate ways for the time being.

-'" #$+×÷:/=%^;_&amp;!?*€(*_%)

Please review it keeps us writers going, till next time CG out. Peace!


	17. Descenting into madness

Chapter. 17

Connar returns to his cell and lands face first into his bed, falling asleep not long after. He reawaken in the immaterial plain, where Aries appeared again.

"Hm... Cesare... Cesare... Where have I heard that name before?"

"Not a good time woman." Connar grumbled, trying to go back to sleep.

"Yes... He was the one who wanted to bring about the great transformation. But then..."

"Go away, I want to be alone."

Aries giggled as Connar grew anger. "Why, you feeling ill?"

"You keep appearing in my dreams and I want it to stop."

"Some people don't mind having a beautiful girl in their dreams."

"All I dream about is getting out of this hell hole I'm trapped in!"

"Alright then, I won't say too much. After all, you might just get the chance to meet him one of these days..." Aries winked at the sinner. "Rest up champ."

"Get lost!" Connar rose up from his bed to punch Aries. He blinked and punched his screen as the world returned to normal. "I'm sick of people telling me what to do..."

"Alert, mental health is below desired levels."

"I just need some air."

The accessory stood in Connar's way. "You're in unacceptable condition, you're contribution abilities will suffer." Connar was about to run his hidden blades through the machine when it spoke up again. "Message received from Mattis, Alice, and Beatrice. Subjects request rendezvous in the warren."

"Then get out of my way." The accessory moved so Connar could leave.

Out in the cell block, Connar ran to the elevator, punching the call button. "Hello there. I've got an operation I need you to do." A green haired citizen came up to Connar for help.

"Not now, I'm busy..."

"What did you say?!" The citizen grabbed Connar's arm. "You're a sinner, you fight and die when I-"

Connar spun around and held his blade an inch from citizen's eye. "I said I'm busy! If that's not good enough then file your complaint with my blade. No out with it." The citizen started to panic, Connar shook him a bit. "Come on, you wanted my attention and you have it."

"S-some of Hourai's sinners are lurking around the geo front! Go kill them!" Connar let go of the citizen who fell on the ground. The citizen got up and straightened his shirt. "Damn sinners, thinking- ah..."

Connar plunged his blade into the citizen's chest, the citizen looked up at Connar who had a crazed look in his eyes. "Don't ever touch me." The elevator arrived, Connar let the citizen fall back down and stepped inside.

"Harming a citizen, your sentence has been extended by four hundred years."

Connar got to the transport bay, looking around he spotted a work bench. "Tampering with citizen's tool, your, mmm"

The sinner placed a piece of metal over his accessory's mouth and drilled in nails to keep it in place. "Just shut up! Just shut the hell up!" Connar found an open transport and ran inside.

"Where are you going?" Asked the drive.

"I'm going to geo front, step on it!" Connar took a seat once the transport got moving. He opened and closed his shacking left hand. "You need me to kill some people? Kill is what I'm good at..." he muttered with a twitch in his right eye.

...

Meanwhile in the warren. Mattis, Beatrice, and Alice were waiting for Connar to join them. After a half hours wait Mattis threw his hands up. "Told you he's not coming! Shaz thinks he's too good for us."

"I don't know." Alice was concerned about Connar. After their last mission together he hadn't been his normal aggressive self, he became more received.

"Screw him then! C'mon, let's show Bea the sights!"

"Hee hee! This is so exciting!" Hummed Beatrice.

"Okay, let's take it from the top! First up, my personal favorite, the fabulous fueling station!" Mattis took the lead with Beatrice right beside him.

Alice was about to fallow till Leon started ruffling her hair. "What has you trouble? If it's Connar you can talk to him when next see him. For now just have fun."

Alice giggled as she stepped away. "You're right Leon, shouldn't worry about something you can't do anything about, right?" The accessory nodded and the two dashed after the others.

...

In the geo front Hourai sinners gathered around, one of them glances around the area and spots Connar walking towards them, dragging his hammer. The sinners ready they're weapons. "Stop! Who are you?"

Connar grins at them. "The guy who's gonna kill you all."

One of the sinners laughed and ran towards Connar while the accessories open fire.

Connar punches the ground and a thorn wall emerged to stop the bullets. The sinner gets around the thorn wall and Connar swung his hammer at him, disconnecting the sinner's upper body from his legs.

The accessory's stopped to reload and Connar took an assault rifle from the enemy he kill, shooting from one of the machines.

Two more sinners rushed Connar, he swung low to knock the first sinner off his feet then Connar raised his hammer and smashed the sinner's head.

The second sinner dropped his gun and drew a short sword. Connar switched his hammer for his chainsaw and clashed with the sinner. The chainsaw's teeth grinded on the short sword, making sparks. The sinner flinched from the sudden sparks and Connar stabbed his with his hidden blade. Connar grabbed the sinner's sword and decapitated him with his chainsaw.

Connar threw the sword at another accessory, impaling it through the chest.

Reinforcements arrived and opened fire. Connar ducked into an out cove and waited out the hailstorm of bullets. A moment later a sinner and her accessory slowly approached the out cove, finding out it was a tunnel. A few steps in and the two were ripped to shreds by sticky grenades.

The sinners fanned out to find the lone madman. A sinner carrying a mini gun found the other end of the tunnel, once he got close Connar came out, stabbed him in the throat and pulled his body inside.

"He's over there!" A sinner saw the attack. The enemy gathered and ran to the opening then stopped when they heard something reving up.

Connar jumped out for the tunnel, armed with the mini gun. "Dying time here!" The weapon tore through several of the sinners and accessories. The closest ones to Connar were blown apart, along with anyone who tried to save them.

Connar smiled then laughed as his opponents fell before him. The gun was empty so put down the mini gun to reload. In a reflection on the gun he saw a sniper on the second floor. Connar pick up the mini gun and used it to block a bullet.

Looking around Connar found a spear on the ground and used his thorn to retrieve it then threw at the sniper. The ducked under a metal plate but the spear pieced the plate and through the sinner.

Another sniper pocked her head out and Connar grappled to her. Connar pulled himself to the sniper and landed on her, stabbing her in the torso repeatedly before ending with one more in the neck.

The sinners on the ground regrouped and shot at Connar. The thief threw a flash bomb and grappled to the pipes hanging from the ceiling.

All the sinners circled around to spot Connar from where ever he comes. Unaware of the two frag grenades that fell in the center of their circle.

The explosion scattered the sinners, the one that weren't killed were badly wounded. One sinner slowly reopened his eyes and saw a hammer dropped from roof and on his head.

Connar lowered himself down by his thorn and grabbed his hammer. A sinner crawled to a gun on the ground, Connar kicked the gun away and smashed his head in.

Another tried to aim at Connar with a shacking hand and her other hand on her ear. Connar's thorn retrieved the gun he kicked away and emptied the clip into her.

A sinner pushed himself up on his elbows and saw his legs were gone. Weaponless he could only watch as Connar crushed the skulls of anyone else still breathing.

As Connar finished with another accessory he noticed the awake sinner. Connar smiled at him and drew a sniper rifle he stole. "Funny isn't it? Wave if you can hear me." The sinner backed away on his elbows. "I'm starting to like watching someone's head through a sniper scope." The tthief aimed he sniper at a sinner crawling away and shot them in the head. "But you don't get the satisfaction of their blood spraying on yourself."

The sinner backed up into a steel pillar. His hearing was slowing coming back. "Now smashing brains in is also fun, but I don't get to see your head explode. Not well anyway." Connar dropped his sniper rifle and dragged his hammer to the sinner. Tilting his head and a psychotic look on his face.

"Stop! Stop please." The sinner pleaded. "You won, you killed everyone else."

Connar stopped in his traces. "Citizens are second class right? So does that mean their sub human? What does that make us sinners, less than that?" Connar started walking again. "So if sinners aren't people, it's not murder! You're just points on a score board. The score board being our sentences."

The sinner begged Connar not to kill him but he didn't listen and smashed the sinner's head against the pillar. Connar looked at the back wall the sinner's blood sprayed on. "Ahh, it's like a butterfly."

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	18. Touring the panopticon

Chapter. 18

"Welcome to our little slice of paradise! The food here is the shaz!" Mattis led Beatrice and Alice to the fueling station."

"Ahh, a new face, eh? Jiro the owner greeted Beatrice. "And a pretty one at that! You don't look like no sinner I ever saw girlie!"

Beatrice walked up to the counter and gave the Jiro a slight bow. "Beatrice Anastasi. Very pleased to make your acquainted, sir."

"Sir, indeed! Now that's what I call manners! You're welcome here anytime, lass!"

"Anything you would recommend for this first timer?" Asked Alice, patting Beatrice on the back.

"Why, me homemade ice cream, o' course! Made with the best ingredients known to man, heart and soul!"

Beatrice looked confused. "Ice cream?"

"Never tried it? Well, it's your lucky day! New faces get a portion free! Ha harr!" Jio0ro handed Beatrice a vanilla ice cream.

"Th-thank you very much for this!"

"Arr! Ye'll always find a warm welcome here!"

"Alright! Let's move on to zakka!" Mattis lead the march outside.

Alice smiled warmly watching Beatrice eat her ice cream. "So what do you think so far?"

"I think it's rather wonderful!" Beatrice answers, with ice cream covered lips. "This is just how I imagined surface life would be! I did not expect you to have such delicious looking treats though."

"Glad you enjoy it, just wipe your mouth when you're done."

...

Mattis walked inside zakka then turned to his companions. "And here we are!" He greeted while walking backwards. "Whatever you're in the market for, it's probably in here somewhere!" Mattis stopped and leaned closer to Beatrice. "Just be warned. You don't wanna get on the wrong side of the guy who runs the place."

"I can hear you, you know?" Shouted the owner from behind his counter, a foot away from Mattis. "What sort of introduction is that?"

"H-hello. Very pleased to make your acquainted, sir." Beatrice greeted with another bow.

"Now, there's someone with real manners! Just don't go thinking you can butter me up and get yourself a discount. "

"Do you... Do you sell abductors?"

The question surprised the shop owner. "Abductors!? Ha ha ha! Hey, Mattis! Where'd you find this girl? Outer space? Ha ha ha!"

"Thank you for your time." Alice waved good bye to the shop owner and left with her friends.

...

Outside in the plaza Beatrice stretched her arms out. "Thank you so much! I really learned a lot!"

"Hey, if you're giving tours of the con now, surely you can't leave out the most important place of all?" Carlos came up to the three sinners. Leon stepped in front of Alice to defend her, though she just went around him.

Do you mean the cell garden?" Alice asked.

"Got it in one."

"You mean... the place I was imprisoned?" Asked Beatrice.

"Well, yeah. But don't think about it that way." Carlos attempted to calm the girl. "There's nothing to be scared of in there, you know. It's actually a nice place to get out from under the watchful eyes of the powers that be. And it's also littered with resources ripe for the picking."

Alice was wasn't so keen on the idea of going back in the cell garden. "I don't know. Last time we went into the garden we were caught. We had to send Connar in to save Beatrice, and that didn't go as stealthily as I would have liked."

Carlos snicked at Alice. "Come on, not all of the cell gardens are that tightly watched. What do you say Beatrice? If you're lucky, you might even find some accessory or abductor parts lying around."

Beatrice was hooked on Carlos' pitch. "R - Really!? I, I rather like the sound of that."

"Heh. I thought you might. And while you're in there, there's a little favor you can do for me."

"I knew it." Muttered Leon.

"There's someone in there I want you to find. He's a... Older gentleman by the name of Dan. I need to talk to him, but I can't seem to get hold of him. If you could go and tell him to come here, I'd be grateful." Carlos glanced to Alice. "You'll do it, right? I'll make it worth your while."

Alice thinks about it for a moment then nods. "Okay Carlos, you got a deal."

"I knew you wouldn't let me down!" Carlos wore an unusual grin. "Dan's camped out in a certain cozy little sector on level three of the cell block. Here's the passcode you'll need."

Carlos handed the card to Alice but leon snatched it away. The accessory scanned the card then gave it to Alice. "It's clean, it will work on the pointed garden entrance."

Carlos laughed at the accessory. "What, don't you trust me?"

"I trust Alice, you're still on the fence."

"Ha ha! Then why not take your new pal with you and give her a guided tour of the place?" Carlos walked by Alice to pat her shoulder, Leon glared angrily at him so Carlos just kept walking.

"What do you wish to do?" Asked Leon.

Alice looked over the card and pocketed it. "Well, we said we'll do. So, might as well!"

Beatrice started looking at Leon with starry eyes. "Wow! Alice, when did your accessory begin to talk on its own? What did you do to program it? How did you get an advanced AI-"

"Ahh! Can you stop with the nerd talk already!?" Shouted Mattis.

Alice covered her face with her hands. "Beatrice?" The girl spun to Alice. "I didn't do anything to Leon. He's always been like this since I became a sinner."

Beatrice hung her head in disappointment, then quickly recovered. "Then you've got to let me see inside him someday!"

"Hey!" Yelled Leon. "I'm not an object you can just take apart!"

"Oh... I'm so sorry!" Beatrice bowed slightly to apologies.

...

In the level three cell block Alice opened the door and slid the card to open the way in. "Hey Mattis, can you go get Connar?"

"Wha, why do we need that shaz?"

"Because, remember what happened last time? I want you to go get him. Just in case we need someone with a pair of wrist blades and an anger problem. Please?"

Mattis rolled his eyes. "Fine! You're lucky you're cute." Mattis walked away while Alice cover her now red face.

"This is going to be so much fun!" Cheered Beatrice.

Leon stood outside with his arms behind his back. "I'll stay here and keep watch. You be careful in there Alice, if you're caught it's another four hundred years."

"Thank you Leon." Alice hugged her accessory and chased after Beatrice.

Up on the balcony Mattis stood outside of Connar's cell. He banged on it until his accessory told him that Connar wasn't there. So Mattis sent a messages through his accessory.

Not a minute later Mattis saw Connar coming up the stairs. "Hey, you get some, what!" Once got a closer look at Connar he was covered in blood, even some dropping from his hands. "Dude! What happened to you?!"

Connar just punched Mattis in the face, sending over the railing. Mattis held on to the railing and his accessory helped him back up.

All the while Connar just slipped back into his cell.

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	19. Information hunting

Chapter. 19

In the cell garden Alice and Beatrice ran passed the last patrolling accessory, they ran into another room and hid behind the door frame. The accessory looked around but didn't see them and continued its patrol.

When the two saw they were in an empty hallway Alice to a deep breath with her hands on her heels. "I've been tense that whole time."

"I think we're almost there." The two walked through the hall and ended up in a larged room with giant will'o generators. "This is certainly the place... but I see no sign of Dan... Or anyone."

They searched the area for a while till Alice found a computer. "Hey Beatrice! Over here!"

Beatrice started typing at the console. "It appears to be... some kind of database."

"Anything interesting?"

"The great loss?" Beatrice opened the file. "It says that twelve years ago, the Arcadia panopticon was destroyed. Some three and a half million people perished with in the space of seven minutes and thirteen seconds. The incident became known as the great loss."

"That's horrible. What caused it? Retribution?"

"No, it was not." Beatrice stepped back from the computer. "Retributions are to acquire human resources, not wipe them out. It is no different in essence to the way in which rival panopticons compete to seize skilled workers."

"It's just what the cons do, they all need people and resources to survive."

"I've always opposed this, as did my mother and father. It is simply inconceivable that forces from On High would eliminate millions of people. In their eyes, this would be an unforgivable waste of resources."

"Maybe... There was something or someone On High needed to get rid of. Something so bad it would be worth the loss?"

"No, whatever happened, it did not involve my people."

"Okay. Anything else about the loss?"

Beatrice shook her head and glanced at the computer. "I am afraid the remainder of the database is heavily encrypted for me to read any more."

"Right, I'd say we found enough." Alice clapped her hands together. "Let's get back to Carlos and tell him Dan isn't here." The two head back the way they came. "Now we just need to not get caught on the way out. How did you and Connar escape?"

"I remember seeing a lot of broken accessories on the way."

Alice rubbed her hands on her face. "I thought as much."

...

Alice and Beatrice got back to the fueling station, there the told Carlos about Dan not being there.

"What's that? No sign of Dan?" Carlos scoffed at the news. "Typical. These old fuddy duddies are so unreliable."

"Do you know anywhere else he could be?" Asked Alice.

"Nope. He's probably wondered off to some other sector of the cell garden."

"If I may ask, what's Dan doing in the cell garden?"

"Word is, his family was killed in the great loss. Ever since then, he's been sneaking in to the cell garden, trying to find out the truth about what happened."

"We just found out about that when we looked through a computer we found in there!"

Carlos grinned. "Good. Because I for one would also love to find out what really happened."

"Is that why you wanted to talk to him?" Asked Beatrice.

Carlos nods. "Exactly, but I suppose I'll just have to suspend my excitement for now." Carlos reached into his pocket and the girls some debilitates. "There your reward."

"Thank you." They both said.

"Don't mention it, enjoy."

...

Meanwhile, Connar slept in his cell when Aries appeared again. "Your friends found something interesting."

"Get lost."

Aries just sighs. "Come on, don't you want to know what it is?"

"Will it get years off my sentence?"

"Better. It's a step closer to true freedom."

Connar sat up to face Aries. "Okay, I'll humor you some more."

"Do you about the great loss?"

"No."

"Then you should asked Alice for the details."Aries brought her hand to her chin, waving her body back and forth. "What could it have to do with you and the struggles that lie ahead? Well, quite a lot, actually. More than you realize."

"I'm getting tired of your cryptic messages. Just tell me what you want."

Aries laughed at Connar's anger. "I know I know... it's annoying, isn't it? You must be so desperate to find out the truth."

Connar shot up and grabbed Aries neck with one hand. "No. I'm desperate to get out of this hell hole. So much that I'm listening to a ghost in a dream."

Aries continued to smile at Connar. "Well, don't worry, it won't be long now."

Everything turned black for a split second as the world returned to normal and Aries was gone again. Connar stood his cell, he look at his hand as he still had the feeling of hold Aries by the throat on it. "What? What's...?"

Connar fell to his knees and punched the floor. "What's real anymore?!" He shout over and over.

...

The next day Connar went down to the warren. Alice, Leon, Beatrice, and Mattis were gathered there. Connar turned to go back when Mattis caught sight of him. "Hey Connar!" The four of them ran to the thief. "Get this, a mysterious girl's been spotted down here in the warren! Another one! And this ain't no ghost story, this is definitely a real life chick!"

"And I should care why?"

Beatrice brought her hand to her chin. "You know, Mattis, you do seem to get rather... worked up when you discuss women."

"Because he's a pig Beatrice." Connar pinched the bridge of his nose.

The accusations were making Mattis flustered. "He-hey! I'd never lose my shaz over-"

"Shaz is not a word Mattis." Connar was getting frustrated with Mattis.

"Who says it's not a word?"

"A dictionary."

"Anyway!" Alice cut in to prevent a fight. "What do you know about this new girl?"

Mattis mentally thanked Alice repeatedly. "Well, I thought she might be a new sinner and, uhh... I mean, a new sinner needs friends, right? And the trademark Mattis whirlwind tour of the warren!"

Beatrice nods in agreement. "I suppose you did do an awful lot to make me feel welcome. It would be nice to return the favor by helping out this new girl. Who knows? Perhaps we could be firends? Oh, I do hope she loves machines as much as me! Imagine!"

"Beatrice keep your machine fetish to yourself."

"Connar!" Shouted Alice. "Stop being a jerk."

"Why?"

"You hurt Beatrice feelings!"

"And I care why again?"

"How can you be so heartless?!"

Connar sighed with his hands on his hips. "I already told you, I'm not here to make firends. I only talk to you people because you keep cornering me."

Beatrice noticed Connar's accessory and gasped upon see metal drilled onto its face, covering its mouth. "How can you be so cruel to your accessory?!"

"Beatrice, I want you to listen to me, okay? It's a machine! Stop acting like they have feelings, their just metal and wires. Nothing more. They don't feel anything."

Leon walked up to Connar. "Do you count me as unfeeling as well?"

"You... I don't know what your deal is, some new programming, I don't know but your still a machine." Connar stabs Leon with his hidden blade.

Leon covers his wound and backs away with the others. Connar takes Leon's hand and moves it. "See? No blood. Just parts." Connar let go of the accessory and when to the fueling station.

Alice used her healing thorn to patch up Leon. "You okay now?"

"A little, but I feel this pain in my chest."

Alice laid her hand were the wound was. "I know, it's because of what Connar said. Words can cut deeper than a blade. BBeatrice are you okay?"

"Not really but I will get over it."

Mattis stomped his foot. "Man, what is that shaz's problem? He wasn't like this when I first met him."

"Really?" Beatrice tilted her head.

"Connar was more smug and cocky. Smiled a few times, now he's a twitch away from hurting someone."

"Maybe we should ask Uwe? He's been a sinner long time, maybe he knows what's wrong with Connar."

"Good idea Alice! And maybe we can ask about our mysterious girl too!" The four began searching for the veteran sinner for answers.

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	20. Crossing the line

Chapter. 20

"This stuff again? Seriously?" Asked Uwe as Alice and friends surrounded him, asking about the mysterious girl. "Word is the Fraternity are searching high and low for some girl." Uwe folds his arms. "But I strongly recommend you keep your noses outta this one. Choose the easy life for once, will you? Like Connar."

Alice fidgets with her hands. "Actually we wanted to talk to you about Connar. Like what's wrong with him."

"You hear about the citizen he killed?" The three sinners gasped in shock. "Thought so. Some of the officers are looking for him. Have any of you seen him do... questionable things?"

Mattis quickly raised his hand. "Yesterday he was covered in blood and acted like he didn't care!"

Alice interjected next. "He just stabbed my accessory not five minutes ago, on our last mission we were on he almost killed a citizen. Other than that he's just anger all the time."

Uwe sighed and shook his head. "I've seen it happen a few times, Connar's turning into a sociopath. A sinner doesn't ajusted well to the life of one and lashes out at everyone."

"But it was to be something, right?" Asked Leon. "If the object that's the source of Connar's anger is removed, will he not calm down?"

"Sounds reasonable, but don't go looking to fix others problems. Worry about yourself for once, got it?" Uwe walked away from the group.

Mattis rubbed the back of his head and groaned. "I agree! If the shaz wants to be barking at everyone let him, right Bea?"

"I, I don't know. Maybe we should help him."

"I agree." Said Alice.

...

In the fueling station Connar walked in and ran into Carlos. "Why am I not suprised to see you?" Connar attempted to walk past when Carlos raised his hand to Connar's chest, pushing him back. "Let me guess, you're looking for leads on another mystery girl."

"Touch me again and I beat you to death with that arm."

Carlos laughed at Connar's reply. "You're a real funny guy. Hehehehehe!"

"If you have point, make it."

"Right, info on the mysterious girl." Carlos rubbed his chin. "Well, she's a girl alright. Very pretty, nice demeanor. Oh, and she's three meters tall!" Connar looked unamused. And Carlos laughed again. "Hahahahaha! You bought it! Just for a second, you bought it!"

Connar extended his hidden blades.

"Hey, hey, hey! No need to get physical. Word on the street is that it's just a man in a skirt..." Connar retracted his blades and looked puzzled. "Heh heh heh! Ahh, every single time! Don't -"

Connar punched Carlos in the mouth, putting him on his rear. The customers in the station whirled around to see what happened as Connar walked out.

Outside Connar found the others and approached them. At the same time Natalie found them as well. Connar gritted his teeth and would've pounced on Natalie if not for the four accessories with her, all locked sights on Connar.

"Good your here too, you have good timing, if nothing else."

"Don't you have some helpless sinners to harass?!"

Natalie smirked. "You mean besides you worm?"

"I'll kill you." Connar tightened his fists.

"I don't listen to threats."

"I'll kill you!" Connar extended his blades and lunged at Natalie.

The officer backed up and to her accessories, all of them held out their hands to bind Connar, who then fell to the ground.

Natalie planted her foot on Connar's head and continued like nothing happened." I have an operation for you all. We've had reports of hostile units affiliated with Hourai infiltrating our terrain. I need you all to flush them out and eliminate them."

"Do we knew who they are?" Asked Alice.

"Yes. It's Agartha. Their panopticon is about the same size as ours, but weak and wasteful. They shouldn't pose a problem."

"We'll do it Miss Woo."

"I wasn't aware that I offered you a choice. The operation has been issued and assigned to you. Move out as soon as you're ready, dismissed." Natalie took her foot off Connar and kicked him in the ribs. "As for you, enjoy another eight hundred years."

Once Natalie was away Connar was freed. Alice and Beatrice tried to help him up but Connar shook them off. "What were you thinking Connar?!"

"Connar!" Just then a peace and stability officer ran up to the group. "Connar! I'm talking to you sinner!"

Connar spun around to face the officer. "Are you? What are you saying?"

"You think you can kill a citizen and get away with it?" The others were blown back by this revaluation.

"Well I have to kill someone. You want me to kill you? Is that the problem here?" Connar leaned over the officer's shoulder and whispered. "Take off you coat, I like to see the blood when I kill."

The officer backed up. "Wha-"

"Take it off!"

Alice held her hands out. "Connar please don't make it worse."

"Shut up Alice." The sinner circled around the officer. "I'm about kill me a P and S officer. Bleed him dry and dance on his corpse."

He officer stood proudly as Connar circled around "You're not gonna do anything sinner, harming a peace and stability officer is an instant thousand years added to your sentence!"

Connar smiled lightly. "Sounds like a good defense, no sane person would risk that." Alice and the others started to feel uneasy. "You worked hard to get this position, didn't you?"

"Harder than any other sinner."

"That's good man." Connar dragged his arm over the officer's shoulders. "That's real good." Connar extended a blade and stabbed the officer in the throat while tripping him down.

"Connar!" Leon held Alice back as she want stop him.

With the officer down Connar stomped on his head repeatedly till they all heard the skull crack when he finally stopped. "Who are you speaking to, huh?! Who? Who?! I'm talking to you! Next time don't get in my face! I just got pinned by Natalie and now I gotta hear your crap?!" Connar walked away from the body then went back to it. "Get up, get up!"

"Shaz dude..." Connar glared at Mattis and punched him in the face.

After Mattis went down Connar began kicking him in the stomach. "It's shit! SHIT! Shaz, is not, a word, you, dump, shit!" The thief was breaking hard after the exercise, he noticed the girls staring at him. "WHAT!" Connar walked away to the panopticon elevator.

When he was gone Leon let go of Alice. I believe we found his problem." Said Leon dryly.

Alice and Beatrice used their thorns to heal Mattis. Leon checked on the officer, but he was already dead.

...

In the transport rode Connar, Alice, Beatrice, and Uwe. Connar sat by himself, while they others were on the other side of the vehicle. Popping his hidden blade in and out.

Alice was starting to get annoyed by it. "Could you-"

"One more word and I'll cut your tongue out."

Alice shivered from remembering how Connar killed that officer so she remained silent. Beatrice looked to Uwe to lighten the mood. "Hourai panopticon has been very active as of late, has it not?"

Uwe nods. "Yup. They're the toughest con out there, and they're been dragging weaker cons into their orbit. Which means our list of enemies keeps getting longer."

"Just means there's more blood to spill." Stated Connar.

Everyone shifted in their seats as Connar spoke with no emotion. "Connar-"

The thief jumped from his seat at Alice, her mouth was open from shock and Connar lightly pressed his hidden blade on her tongue. "What did I say? What did I say?!"

"Connar!" Uwe stood up. "Get away from her, now!"

With his free hand Connar drew an assault rifle from his case, pointing it at Uwe. "Make a move old man." Beatrice got up and Connar shot her in the leg, then pointed the weapon back to Uwe. "Don't be a hero." He said to Beatrice.

The transport stopped and the door opened. Connar retracted his blade and backed out of the vehicle.

"Believe us now?" Asked Alice in a shaky voice.

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	21. fallow the machine

Chapter.21

Connar came out of the transport and found an abductor with its back to him. Connar was about to shoot it when one of the accessories spoke up. "The current operation is to lead this abductor back to the panopticon." The accessory pointed to a large black cylinder. "The abductor will fallow whoever is holding that node."

Connar switched his assault weapon for his sniper rifle and grappled up to the abductor's shoulder. He spotted a sinner in a building with a rocket launcher and shot her in the head. The thief's accessory ran to the node and picked it up, carrying it to the panopticon with the abductor right behind.

On the way a sinner with a blaster fired at the accessory. Connar shot the sinner and used his thorn to heal his machine. Another accessory came around to help the enemy sinner but Connar shot it too.

Back at the transport Alice used her thorn to heal Beatrice's leg. The girls, Uwe, and their accessories got out of the vehicle and chased after the abductor.

Four enemy sinners grappled onto the back of the abductor with their thorns. Alice and Beatrice took out their guns and shot down two of them while Uwe charged in and punched the third one in the head.

The last sinner stopped pulling on the machine and launched himself up, which Connar strake him with his sniper then shot the sinner as he fell back to the ground.

Alice and Leon ran to the front of the abductor, shooting any sinners that came their way. Beatrice and Uwe stayed behind the robot to fight off the sinners that tried to sneak up on them.

Connar spotted another sinner in a building and sniped them, while reloading a sinner with a rocket launcher fired at the abductor. Connar was thrown off the robot, crashing into the ground.

"Connar!" Alice dashed to the fallen sinner and dragged him behind cover. Just then a group of sinners found them and opened fire. The others wanted to help but the abductor was besieged from both sides.

Alice used her thorn the heal Connar, when she finished Connar stood up then Alice dragged him back down, evading the hail of bullets. "It's us against six of them, we have to pick them off before they get us."

Connar ruffled Alice's hair. "That's adorable, you think they're a threat. Well sit tight little girl, shows about to start." Once the sinners stopped shooting Connar stood up. "Careful though, front row is a splash zone."

"What do you mean?" Connar started laughing, which freighted Alice.

The sinners reloaded and opened fire, Connar kneeled and punched the ground, creating a wall of spikes to guard him. When they stopped Connar walked around the spiked wall. A sinner drew a bent sword and charged.

Connar caught the sinner's arm and stabbed him in the chest repeatedly with his hidden blade.

The sinner laid in the dirt but Connar kept stabbing then punched into his chest and ripped out the sinner's heart. Connar held out the heart to the enemy sinners and crushed it then dropped it. Connar placed his soaked hand on his forehead and moved it down the left side of his face. Painting it with blood.

An enemy sinner dropped her gun and drew a katana, she swung it once and attacked. Connar kicked up the bent sword and blocked, then stabbed the sinner in torso twice. As the sinner fell Connar sheathed the sword in his will'o case and took the katana.

One sinner turned and ran while the last two opened fired. Connar made another thorn wall to protect himself, the sinners stopped shooting and drew their great swords.

Connar poked out from behind the thorn wall and sniped one of the sinners, he switched to the katana and charged after then last enemy. The sinner swung his weapon and Connar slid under it, he stood up and cut the sinner in half.

Alice was horrified by all the blood and gore left in Connar's wake, the thief picked up an assault rifle, pointed it at Alice, and fired. Alice froze, watching the bullets coming towards her.

The bullets flew past Alice and into an enemy sinner's head. Drops of blood landed on Alice's dress and face, she fell to her knees in shock. Connar walked to the dead sinner's body, took their assault rifle and kept walking, not even acknowledging Alice's presence.

The abductor was dragged down for the second time, a sinner grabbed onto the robots right arm and severed it off. Uwe was trying his best to keep the sinners away from the abductor but there was just too many.

Leon was shooting any and all sinners that climbed on the machine, Beatrice was hesitant to shoot because she didn't want to hurt the abductor. A sinner broke open the abductor's will'o pod and took the citizen out.

The enemy regrouped and ran away, with the citizen in hand. "Their getting away!" Uwe chased after them but snipers hiding in the ruins came out and pinned down the others.

The enemy sinners were running back to their RRU to deliver the citizen. When they got there Connar came out from behind the RRU, he held two assault rifles and fired. The wave of bullets ripped through multiple sinners, the ones that grabbled to the buildings to get to higher ground were immediately gunned down.

When he was out of ammo Connar dropped the guns and drew his own, continuing to shoot the sinners. Connar was aiming for the citizen, knowing the enemy sinners would take the bullets to protect him.

After Connar's rifle ran empty four sinners remained, one held a spear and another had short sword. As the two ran towards Connar he threw his rifle into the air. While they watched it the thief drew his katana and decapitated the sinners.

A sinner drew her sniper rifle and took aim. Connar let go of the katana, held up his thorn, and took out his own sniper. Connar blocked the bullet with his thorn then shot the sinner in the heart.

The last sinner put the citizen down and slowly backed away with his hands out. "Please, just take him and go." The sinner spoke in a shaken voice. "He's what you want, please no more bloodshed."

Connar tossed his sniper aside and used his thorn to drag the sinner to him, then stab them in the chest. "I feel an overwhelming need for bloodshed!" Connar stabbed him two more times than twisted the blade.

As the sinner's body fell in the dirt the citizen got up and ran in fear of Connar. The thief threw his thorn and grabbed the citizen's legs, tripping them. Connar used his thorn to retrieve all of his weapons as he walked towards the citizen.

Uwe and Beatrice sighed with relief as the last of the sinners were gone. Leon quickly left to find Alice. "We'll have to count this one as a failure." Said Uwe.

"Don't be too sure!" Uwe and Beatrice turned to see Connar walking to them, holding the citizen at gunpoint.

"Alice!" Leon shouted. After a quick search the accessory found his sinner. Alice sat with her back against some rubble, with her face buried in her knees. Leon scanned the area and saw all the bodies. "Did you do all this?" Alice shook her head.

Leon held out his hand, Alice looked up to her accessory and took it. Leon pulled Alice close to him and held her. "Let's go see Notey, she'll know how to make you feel better." Leon carefully led Alice to the rest of the team.

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	22. A soft touch

Chapter 22

After returning to the panopticon Alice and Leon searched the apartment section, where the P and S officers lived. After walking through a few halls they found the right door, Alice knocked and waited a couple of seconds. The door opened, revealing Natalie. "Alice!" Natalie pulled Alice into the apartment for a hug. Leon stepped in as well, closing the door behind them.

"How are you?"

"I'm good Notey, came by to see you."

The two sat down on a sofa while Leon got started on some drinks. "I hear your operation went well, also the code 5 exams will be starting soon. You're a couple thousand years short but I'll try to get your name on the list."

"Thank you Notey, is the office giving you trouble still."

Natalie sighed. "They keep saying you're a 'big girl' and I shouldn't interfere, but I'm gonna get you out of being a sinner and into something safer."

"Alice." Leon gave two coffees to the women. "I believe you should tell Notey about what happened today."

"What? What happened?"

"Well..." Alice took a sip of coffee and told Natalie the last operation, how Connar had left a trail of blood in his wake.

Natalie took off her glasses and pinched her nose. "Listen, I want you to stay away from Connar as much as you can, when you're with him in the field let Connar do the work."

Leon raised his hand. "I have a question, Connar has attacked and killed a citizen and an officer. In light of this why hasn't been properly punished?"

Natalie took a long drink from her coffee and sighed. "You two know that what I tell you is secret, and you can't repeat it to anyone, right?" Alice nods. "The higher ups think that Connar will be the next Abel."

Alice brought her hands to her lips. "They what?! They want another demon like him running around?"

"Yes, my bosses what Connar angry and wild. Becoming this uncontrollable weapon to use."

Leon disapproved. "Their logic is flawed, you can't control the uncontrollable. It stops being uncontrollable at that point."

"Anyway, just be careful from now on, okay Alice?" Natalie patted Alice's hand. "Now tell me about your new friends, Mattias and Beatrice."

"What do you want to know?"

"Can they be trusted with your safety?"

"I'll answer that one." said Leon. "Beatrice's a bit hesitant to shot sinners, more so on abductors. But she's good at keeping a team healed and can carry a citizen to safety. Mattias however, is a show boater and a womanizer." Natalie looked at Loan disapprovingly. "But he can be counted on when it's time to be serious, and I've kept him from making any unfavorable advances on Alice."

"Good, thank you Leon."

"Of course." The accessory lightly bowed.

Natalie looked at her watch and stood up. "Time for us to get back to work. Thank you for coming by."

Alice got up and hugged the officer. "Of course Notey, you be safe now."

"And you as well, Leon watch Alice closely and don't let Connar hurt her."

"I won't let you down." The accessory and sinner walked out of the apartment. Natalie gathered her things and left a few minutes after.

...

Meanwhile in the code 3 cell blocks Connar was about to go back to his cell when he heard Mattias and Beatrice talking on a lower floor.

"...Go down to the warrens again."

"Yeah! Look out warren, here I come! You wanna tag along too Bea?"

"I would love too, but a citizen has issued me with an operation which I must take care of first. I will come and find you at the fueling station when my work is done. Good luck in your search!" Beatrice turned and walked away. "Ohh, I can't wait to see what wonderful abductors will be waiting for me out on the battlefield!"

"That girl really digs abductors, like, really."

"She needs to keep her fetish to herself." Connar came down from the higher level. "You still looking for that girl?"

"Why should I tell you?!" Mattias held his sides, still hurt from Connar kicking him. Connar extended his hidden blades. "Okay! I got the skinny on our mystery lady. Seems she's looking for someone herself."

"Was that so hard? Let's go."

"Wha?"

"I like to keep my meat shields with in bullet blocking distance."

The two climbed down to the ground floor and went to the elevator. "I bet she's come from a far off panopticon on a quest for the man of her dreams. Well, her search is over!"

"Then she'll be disappointed, because I'm not interested in dating."

...

Up in the warrens the elevator door opened, letting Connar and Mattias out. "So, Beatrice is meeting us in the fueling station once she's done with her op, right?" Asked Mattias.

"Hell if I know."

"You there!"

"Yeah, you!"

The boys heard some shouting, they found some ruffians harassing a woman in a brown clock.

"Where did you appear from?"

"Hey! Wait! Hold you horses!" Mattias rushed in, shoving one of the thugs away.

The thug shoved Mattias back. "Who the hell are you!?"

"C'mon guys, chill! We're all friends here!"

"Idiot." Connar sighed.

The elevator opened again, this time Alice and Leon came out to the warren. The two arrived at the plaza just in time to see what was happening.

"I mean, this is the warren, right? This place is all about freedom and friendshi-"

The girl put her hand on Mattias head and pushed him down, the girl leaped over Mattias and punched the thug in the face. Another thug tried to punched her but the girl spun around to behind the ruffian and elbowed him in the back of the head. The third one charged at the girl, who just spin kicked him in the chest.

"Wh-what do you think you're doing!?" Mattias took the girl by her wrist and started running. "Quick! We need to get outta here!"

Alice and Leon chased after Mattias and the girl. One of the thugs was getting up, Connar stabbed him in the back of the neck and fallowed Alice.

...

At the fueling station Cannar just got in, the others were gathered around the girl. "Why did you have to go and do that for?" Asked Mattias. "You should probably scram while you still can, you know..." He then sat beside her. "Hey, at least take your hood off when people are talking to you! Didn't your parents teach you any manners?"

The girl removed her hood, revealing her face. She had combed back sand colored hair, long bangs wrapped in black thread on the sides of her face, and sandy eyes."

"Holy shaz! Y-You're beautif- ohh!" Mattias was blowen back by the girl's looks, falling of the sofa.

Connar was stunned too, but for a different reason.

"Nevermind that now... just who are you, anyway? And what're you doing here?" The girl remained quiet, Mattias put his face on the back of the sofa. "Man, not the silent treatment... anything but that!"

Connar pulled Alice aside, out of earshot of the others. "Is it just me or does this girl look like an older Beatrice?"

Alice did a double check on the girl. "You're right, could she be related?"

"We're not gonna find out if she won't talk."

"I got it." Alice turned to the counter to talk to the owner.

"You're the chick everyone's been talking about, right? The one who's looking for someone?" The girl still didn't answer. "Aww c'mon! Say something!"

Alice came in with an ice cream cone. "You hungry?"

"Ice cream!? Are kidding me? Now's not the time for that shaz."

The girl took the ice cream and gave it a lick, then several more. She turned back to Alice. "...Thank you."

Mattias rested his head on his hand. "You really are a piece of work..."

! #$%^&amp;*()_+}"?:{

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	23. The rifts between us

Chapter 23

Connar sat down on the sofa across from the new girl, who continued to eat her ice cream. "So where you from?"

The girl didn't answer Connar, not even look at him.

"Tough crowd..." Muttered Mattias.

Alice kneeled beside the girl. "Can we have your name?"

"Sylvia."

"Well we got a name now." Stated Connar. "So who are you looking for?"

"Someone."

"You got a name or a description of this person?" Sylvia didn't answer. "You know you're not helping."

"And you're sure they're around here?" Asked Mattias. "And who told you that?" Again she didn't answer.

The area was silent for a minute until Alice spoke up. "Is that ice cream good?" Sylvia only nodded a reply.

The swung open as someone entered. It was a man with spikes up short red hair, wearing a long black coat with fur on the sides and open to expose his chest, black pants and shoes. He walked in pass Alice and straight to Sylvia. "You really think you can hide from us?" He asked the girl.

Sylvia didn't even look away from her ice cream.

"You're gonna pay for you did to our guys! No makes us look stupid! No one!"

Connar started chuckling. "This girl just kicked the ass of three of your man, and you think you, alone, can come in here and beat her up? You're living in dream land."

"D-damn you!" He shouts.

Alice grabbed the man's arm and pulled him back. "Leave us alone."

"You what? You're either brave or stupid, talking to me like that." He took a step closer to Alice when Leon stood in between them. "And who are you?"

"Her accessory. I suggest you leave now before you loss you're life."

"And who's-" The man heard the sound of an engine revving up.

Connar plunged his chainsaw blade into the man's back, jetting out of his chest. Connar pulled the weapon up, sawing the man in half until it came out of the top of his head, raining blood in the station.

Leon spun around and shielded Alice from the sight. Mattias got up and backed even further away from Connar. Sylvia stopped eating her ice cream when some blood landed on it.

"What?! What is...?" Alice struggled out of Leon's hold and froze when she saw what happened. She covered her mouth and backed into a wall, tears coming down her face. Blood painted Connar's clothes, face and hair.

"You!" Shout the fueling station owner. "Get out now before I call-" The owner stopped talking as Connar drew his gun and pointed it at him.

Leon jumped at Connar, throwing off his aim as he fired, the bullets missed the owner, who was now hiding behind the counter. Connar shoved Leon down and put a whole clip of ammo into the accessory's chest, the thief put his weapons away and stepped on Leon's wounds as he walked out.

Outside Connar was stopped by two of the three thugs Syliva beat up. As they spoke Connar ran his hidden blades into their throats and walked on.

...

An hour had passed since Connar's latest blood bath. The one responsible was standing in the plaza, looking up at the sky.

"Is that him?"

"That's him, Dracula."

"No way." A sinner tapped Connar on the shoulder, Connar grabbed the sinner's arm and threw him over the cliff. He turned to the other sinner's, scaring them off with the dried blood still caked on him.

"Dracula!" Shouted the sinners as they ran for it. Everyone else in the plaza looked at Connar and slowly started to leave then full on run to the lift, even the officers were running for it.

Connar huffed and turned back to look at the sky. _"Dracula... I can work with that."_ Connar wear a dark grin on his face.

"Connar!" shouted Beatrice. "Is every... one..." Beatrice stopped in her tracks seeing the blood on Connar.

The thief tilted his head, looking at Beatrice she did look like Syliva. Connar grabbed her hand and took the girl to the fueling station.

...

Back at the station Mattias used his thorn to fix up Leon and the two were finishing cleaning up the blood after the peace and stability office had come to claim the body. Alice sat at the counter, slowly licking the ice cream Leon got for her.

Syliva however was trying to eat two ice creams at once. "Wow... you really do like ice cream, huh..." Mattias was weirded out by how fast Syliva was eating the cold treats.

Connar came in the station, with Beatrice in tow. "Hello Everyone!"

Syliva turned to Beatrice and stood up "Bea!"

"Syliva." Beatrice was taking back seeing the new girl.

Syliva gave the ice creams to Mattias, marching towards Beatrice.

"Hold on... are you two... sister!?" Asked Mattias. "Wait, so she's from-" Leon backed handed Mattias in the face, knocking him back on the sofa.

The sisters stared at each other, Beatrice looked confused while Syliva looked anger.

...

The group went to an isolated area of the warren, there Mattias and Leon explained what happened to Beatrice. Alice and Connar were off to the side lines watching. Syliva had her back to the group as they talked, she took off her clock, revealing her clothes were the same as Beatrice when Connar first found her.

"Thank you both for explaining the situation." Beatrice got up and slowly approached her sister. "Syliva, there are so many things I need to ask you..."

"Lucius was right." Syliva spun around to Beatrice. "You have debased yourself!"

"Syliva..."

The older sister looked away from Beatrice. "Lucius has told me that the surface was a seething pit of greed and temptation. One into which our father shamefully fell..." Syliva tightened her fists. "And he warned me that you too have... fallen. But, even so." Syliva spun back to her sister. "I never believed you would fall so far as to become a filthy sinner!" Beatrice backed away as Syliva berates her. "Have you lost your mind?!"

Syliva stopped as a bullet grazed her cheek. Everyone looked around till they saw Connar, pointing a gun at Syliva. "Your voice is annoying."

Slyiva reached for her weapon cases but stopped, this was the first time she got a good look at the thief. "You're, you're Connar?"

The thief raised an eyebrow. "How do you know me?"

Slyiva drew a spear and charged. Connar fired a few more bullets which Syliva blocked with the head of her spear. Connar dropped his gun and drew his chainsaw and sidestepped Syliva.

"No!"

Leon held back Beatrice. "Stay out of it! Those two have much hatred in their hearts."

Syliva opened with a wide swing of her spear. Connar reversed his grip and blocked the swing, he used his thorn the pull the girl to him and planted his foot in her torso and put her on the ground.

Connar kneeled down to stab Syliva with his blade. Syliva latched her thorn to Connar's arm and pulled him off of her.

The two got back on their feet, Syliva swung widely while Connar kept dodging. Once his back was at a cliff Syliva charged again.

Connar dropped his weapon and sidestepped the attack, this time as the spear head sailed by Connar he grabbed the spear and stroke Syliva in the face with his elbow, while she was stunned Connar held the spear with both hands and spun around, throwing Syliva back and taking her weapon.

Syliva got half way up when Connar held the tip of the spear on her nose. "Now, how do you know me?"

"You and Beatrice are traitors, and will be dealt with as such!"

"Big talk coming from a little girl." A loud roar echoed t as a dragon abductor landed in the area.

The dragon flapped its wings, creating dust clouds. In the chaos Syliva backed up to the dragon, using her thorn to take back her spear then grapple on to the abductor. "Next time we meet, it will be on the battlefield! And I shall crush you, spit on you, and grind you into the dirt!" The dragon took off in the sky.

"SYLIVA!" Shouted Beatrice.

Connar retrieved his gun and fired at the dragon till his gun was out of ammo.

Beatrice raised her hand to her heart. "You cannot stop me loving you... no matter how hard you try."

! #$%^&amp;*()_+{:?"}

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	24. Climbing the codes

Chapter. 25

The following day Connar, Mattias, and Beatrice were on their way into the city.

Mattias was patting his knees with his fists. "Aright! Let's get this shaz-" Connar pointed his gun at the pink haired sinner.

Beatrice stood up and froze when the thief looked at her, remembering the time when he shot her.

Mattias then tried to defuse the situation. "Come on man, we're the dream team! We save the citizens and beat back the other cons."

"I have no friends, we're not a team it's just me and the meat shields slowing me down." The door lowered, letting the sinners out. Connar walked down the ramp, the other two fallowed while keeping their distance.

Rounding a corner the group found a carrier abductor with miniguns on the sides, guarded a sinner with a spear and his accessory with an assault rifle. Connar aimed his sniper rifle and shot down the accessory when the thief's own accessory sniped the sinner.

Beatrice and Mattias caught up, seeing the abductor they drew they're guns and fired. The abductor turned to the sinners and fired back with its miniguns, forcing them to take cover.

Connar rushed the machine, when it opened fire the thief threw his thorn at the abductor's will'o pod before the bullets could overlap on him.

Another pair of sinners and accessorizes arrived, all armed with rocket launchers. The enemy fired at the abductors in the back. Mattias and Beatrice fired at the sinners, now becoming the main targets of them.

The abductor crashed to the ground, Connar leaped and rolled to his feet. The thief switched to his chainsaw and sliced into a minigun, trying to break it off. Connar's accessory sniped one of the sinners and the dead sinner's accessory shot back, blasting Connar's accessory.

Beatrice rushed the enemy, she fired and killed one and her accessory took down another. Mattias used his thorn to pull himself towards the last enemy and smashed it with his sword.

More sinners came running in to fight of the group, two sinners with spears were killed by Mattias and his machine.

Connar ripped off a minigun and climbed down from the robot. A gate opened and several more sinners came in. Connar latched his thorn to the minigun the power then turned to the opened gate. The sinners panicked and was shredded to bits in a hailstorm of bullets.

Mattias picked up a rocket launcher and blasted some sinners come at them. The enemy cleared the way as another abductor charged them. An all-purpose model with a citizen trapped inside. "Ah shaz!" Mattias reloaded while backing away.

Beatrice got closer and fired repeatedly at the will'o pod, the casing was beginning to leak will'o after the four blast. The abductor pulled its arm back and Beatrice grappled to a close by building to evade.

Connar spun around back to the carrier abductor and fired on the machine. The bullets tore through the abductor, reducing the robot to a flaming metal mess. The thief dropped the minigun and revived his accessory when he heard some crying. The thief grappled into a building opening and found a citizen.

The citizen looked up at Connar and crawled backwards. "Get, get away!"

Connar pulled the citizen to him with his thorn. The citizen was pounding Connar's chest to make him let go, thief held him hidden blade to the citizen's neck and he calmed down. Connar retraced this blade and tossed the citizen off the cliff behind him, his accessory caught the citizen and ran back to the RRU.

Beatrice escaped into a building opening where she came face to face with another sinner. The sinner swung her sniper rifle but Beatrice ducked and shot them in the stomach. The dead sinner fell to the side, revealing the citizen they were guarding. "Come on, I'm here to get you back home." Beatrice reached out to the citizen and helped her up.

Mattias fired his last rocket at the abductor and dropped the weapon. His other gun was out of ammo and his accessory was down. While running to safety two more sinners with rocket launchers arrived to stop him. As they aimed to kill him Connar jumped down and landed on one then hit the other with an uppercut.

"What took you so long?" Said Mattias.

Dracula stomped on the downed sinner's head, took his rocket launcher and beat the other one to death with it. The abductor came running at them and Connar fired a rocket at the machine.

While the abductor blew up Beatrice ran for the RRU. Mattias picked up some ammo off the fallen sinners while Connar used his sniper rifle to cover Beatrice.

...

Elsewhere Alice, Leon, Natalie, and her accessory just stepped out of their transport and into the desert. The four drew their guns and preformed a weapons check.

Natalie used her sniper scope to see the incoming sinners, though they were still to far to shoot accurately. The officer checked on Alice who seemed pretty quick on the draw. "Excited are we?"

"Yeah! It's been a long time since we fought together like this."

Natalie gave another look at the forces coming. "I see eight sinners, all armed with short and longswords and an ice biped abductor, with miniguns on its shoulders. Stick to the plan and we'll be home before the sunsets."

Once the sinners were close enough Natalie and her accessory stood up and opened fire. Two sinners were shot in the head and died. The two adjusted their scopes and fired again taking two more.

"Now!" Alice and Leon stood up, aimed their assault rifles and took out two more sinners. The last two made it to the barricade, swinging their swords at the assault gunners.

Leon dodged the first one and stroke him with his rifle, while stunned the accessory got around the sinner and snapped his neck. Alice used her spear to block the attack and Natalie impaled the sinner with her sword.

"You okay?"

"Yes, thank you Natey." The grouped turn heard the abductor coming, the robot's normally orange wiring was a light blue with ice spikes on it thighs. The defenders hid behind cover as it used it miniguns. When it stopped the team split up, Alice and Leon drew its fire while Natalie grappled to one of its shoulder weapons.

The abductor fallowed the two as they ran and shot it with their guns. Alice's gun was out of ammo, her and Leon got behind a rock formation as Leon gave her some ammo.

The abductor opened fire again and a second later it fell on its knees once Natalie cut off the right minigun. "Alice! It's down!"

"On it!" Alice and Leon ran towards the machine, shooting its will'o pod every step of the away. The two got close to the abductor and placed down a pair of anti-abductor mines then backed off.

Natalie cut through most of the machine's right arm, as it began getting up she leaped off. The officer backed away and used her sniper to finish the job.

The abductor took a step and landed on the mine, the machine lost its leg and fell forward, on top of the second mine. Alice jabbed her spear into its shoulder till the whole arm came off while Natalie threw sticky grenades on its back.

The abductor exploded after the third grenade, becoming yet another pile of scrap.

Alice sheathed her spear and whipped her forehead with the back of her hand. "That was excellent Alice, nicely done." Said Leon, ruffling her hair.

Natalie rejoined them and patted the two's shoulders. "Congratulations. Welcome to code 5."

"Thank you Natey!" Alice gave Natalie a big hug.

Natalie returned the hug and walked with her back to the transport. "You have yourself to thank. You earned this, so just keep climbing. I'll always be here for you."

...

Back at the panopticon Connar return to his cell to get some rest, when Aries pays him another visit. "You're coming on in leaps and bounds. But you're not quite there yet. He wants more from you... Simeon, I mean... He wants you to give it your all."

Connar got up and punched the monitor beside Aries head, his face an inch away from hers. "The hell do you want from me?"

"Your help with the great transformation, it's for your own sake as well."

"Why should I believe you? Ever since I met you I've be on a none stop ride through hell."

Aries smiled at Connar. "Think about it. Everything that's happened to you is because of you and your bloodlust." Connar relaxed some and stepped back. "Someone from your past will return."

"Who?"

"You have to wait and see. Simeon is watching you, so don't let him down." Aries pulled her hat down her face and the world returned to normal.

! #$%^&amp;*()_+}"?:{

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	25. An old friend

Chapter. 26

"Incoming message from the committee for social selection." Spoke the accessory.

Connar blinked a few his to readjust to his eyes to the normal world, a light tone played in the cell and Percy was on his screen. "Greetings sinner! Wash out your ears, because I'm here to announce the results of the code 4 exam. Ready or not, here it comes..."

Connar crossed his arms and tapped his foot, losing his patience with the bear.

Percy clapped his hands. "You passed!"

"Can we get on with it!"

"Hooray! Well done you! Now you can contribute even more to your panopticon! I'm happy to..."

Connar had zoned out on what Percy was saying and began thinking about what Aries had told him.

"... For the greater good!" Connar snapped and punched his screen as Percy disappeared.

_"What would you know about good."_ Connar shook his hand to numb the pain. When it stopped hurting Connar pressed the screen to call his weapons facility. "Hey, got a weapon order for you." Connar showed his hidden blade. "I want you to make a pair these with flare knifes as the blades."

"You want what?!" Asked the citizen.

Connar tapped his foot. "You heard me. I want hidden blades made with flare knifes."

"What you're asking-"

Connar extended his hidden blades. "I don't ask. So will you make them or will it be done by your surviving kin?"

"I-I'll get my team together." The citizen cut the connection. Conner pulled out a flare knife and extended one his hidden blades to measure it to the knife.

His accessory spoke once more. "Natalie "9" Woo requests to meet with you outside the cells."

_"Damn Beatrice, this is why I covered the things mouth."_ Connar walked out of the cell, wishing he had more metal to make his accessory stop talking.

...

Down in the code 4 cell block Beatrice, Mattias, Uwe, Alice, Leon, Natalie, and her accessories were gathered. Connar approached the crowd and stopped when his saw a girl in the center. She was a foot shorter then everyone, had short blue hair, a white shirt with yellow sleeves, tan shorts and long blue socks with a supply bag on her right leg like Uwe.

Natalie sees Connar coming and nods. "You're all here? Good. I'll keep this brief. We are under attack from Lemurian forces." Natalie raised her voice. "It is your duty to defend your panopticon. Refusal is not an option."

Mattias looks over the girl. "What's with the kid? What is this, bring your daughter to work day?"

The girl grabs Mattias by his shirt caller and drags him down her eye level. She sways her hips with her free hand on her side. "Watch your mouth, or you'll be picking up your teeth."

"Elfy?"

"Who...!" The girl shun around and stopped when she spotted Connar.

"Elfy it's me, Connar."

The girl stared a bit then gave a big smile. "Connar!" The two gave each other a small hug. "It's been thirteen years, weren't you going to be a citizen?"

"Things changed, but look at you. You've... gotten a little bigger." The girl threw a punch but Connar caught it. "No longer to frail kid you knew Elfy."

Everyone was confused and a bit shocked. Here was connar, the most trigger happy madman they've ever see acting like nothings wrong.

"You ah, you mind telling us who this chick is?"

The girl went to punch Mattias but Connar beat her to it and knocked him down. "Show some respect."

"Connar! That's five hundred years!" Shouted Natalia.

Everyone was ready for another throw down between the two but Connar just shrugged. "Whatever." Natalie was caught off guard by Connar's restraint.

Natalia pushed up her glasses. "Anyway... Uwe introduce her."

"This is Elfriede Cabrera... my daughter."

Beatrice raised her hands to her lips in surprise. "What?!"

Alice did the same. "You have a daughter?!"

"You're kidding me?!" Said Mattias getting up.

"Hey, if I told you, it would've spoiled the fun." Laughed Uwe.

Connar folded his arms. "Thirteen years later and I finally meet the father of my best friend."

Elfriede punched Connar lightly to get his attention. "Dad told me about you, though I did think it would be the same Connar."

"Would I be correct to guess it was... colorful?"

Elfriede nods yes. "But I'll hold off until after I see it for myself. I think judging a book by its cover would be a bad idea in both our cases, don't you? That kind of slack judgement had no place on the battlefield."

Connar smiles and holds out his fist. "The thief and the brawler, together again."

Elfriede fist bumped Connar. "If you need anything, just ask. I'm always ready to teach old dogs new tricks."

"Are you quite finished?" Asked Natalie.

"Yes we are." Said Connar.

"G-good." Natalie looked at Elfriede for a second then continued. "For this operation you will split into two platoons. Mattias, Beatrice, Alice You're coming with me. We're going to deploy a pincer movement and pin the enemy down. Lemuria are nothing more then Hourai's lackeys. Don't let a single one of those worthless rats make it through."

Natalie turns to Uwe. "You, Elfriede and Connar will guard the back way. The operation has been issued and assigned. Make your preparations, and move out." Natalie and her team went in the lift behind them.

Uwe clapped his hands. "You heard her, you two ready?"

"Always!" Connar and Elfriede say together.

...

Connar, Elfriede, and Uwe stood outside the desert outpost waiting for the incoming invaders. Father and daughter put on their brass knuckles and Conner drew his sniper rifle.

"If the enemy punch a hole in our defense here, our whole front line falls apart. Whatever it takes, don't let that happen." Said Uwe.

Elfriede casts her gaze down. "They're deployed full battalions to protect other areas You want to ell me why it's just us here?" Elfriede notices Connar looking at her. "What are you looking at?"

"Just so glad to see you again Elfy. With the two of us are the full battalion."

Uwe chuckles. "Check that confides, it's a slow killer."

"Come of pops, Elfy and I were great partners."

"That was thirteen years ago Connar." Pointed Elfriede.

"Which means we got better, or I did at least."

"I remember kicking your ass a lot as kids."

"That was thirteen years ago, I'm much faster now. What about you, did you learn to hit harder?"

Elfriede stopped closer to Connar. "Why, you want to find out?"

"Yeah. I'll watch you punch people while covering you."

"Hey focus you two!" Shouted Uwe. "if you lose focus out here you die."

Connar loaded his sniper then checks the scope. "so it's the three of us against who knows what."

Uwe grunts. "Some sectors are better protected by small, crack units then big deployments."

"Fine with me. No dead weight to slow me down."

"Besides, I get to spend some time with my daughter and son-in-law."

"You know about that?"

"Their here!" Pointed Elfriede.

Over the horizon a wave of sinners were approaching. Connar aimed his sniper and took off a sinner's head. An accessory rushed to help but Connar shot it's head off too.

Uwe and Elfriede charged into the fray, punching anyone that got in their way with Connar keeping them covered.

More sinners came running from behind some rock pillars. "On you three!" Connar spoke on the comlink then shot one of them.

"I see them." Elfriede drew a minigun from her will'o case, as it revved up a pair of sinners closed in on her. Uwe threw his thorn at one to pulled them away while Connar sniped to other one. Elfriede's gun was ready and fired a into the hoard of sinners.

The sinners turned to run but Elfriede tore them apart. From where the sinners were running to a giant metal spider appeared.

"The hell is that thing!?" Connar shouted over the mic.

Uwe answered the call. "A paradox abductor, one used by on high. Hourai must has reversed engineered it."

"Lovely..." Connar reloaded his gun and fired at one of the legs, but did little if any damage.

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	26. What worth protecting

Chapter. 27

A sinner climbed up one of the cliffs, they took out their sniper rifle and aimed at Elfriede. Connar spotted the sinner and shot them but was a seconds too late. The sinner was shot in the head just as after they fired, hitting Efriede in the back.

"Elfy!" Connar ran towards her till he saw the spider abductor aiming it's rockets at Efriede. Connar stopped when noticed a missile launcher near a dead sinner, if he hurried he might get to it before the abductor fired. Connar's eyes darted back and forth between Elfriede and the weapon, he clinched his fists and ran for his target.

Elfriede laid in the sand unable to get up because of the bullet in her spine. The robotic spider released it's missiles, Efriede could only watch and wait for her doom.

A fist came down in front of of her, punching the ground. A white thorn launched into the sand and made a thorn wall to stop the missiles. Elfriede fallowed the arm to see Connar kneeling beside her.

Connar pulled out a medkit from his jacket and placed it on her back, repairing her spine and removing the bullet. "This time I'll protect you."

"Elfriede!" Uwe ran to his daughter's side. Connar stood up and reached for Uwe's weapon case, taking his rocket launcher. Connar jumped and planted his foot on Uwe's back then kicked off to get into the air. The thief aimed and fired at the spider, the force from the luancher sent Connar flying backwards and crashed into the sand.

As Connar slowly pushed himself up a sinner stood over him, about to chop the thief in half with a greatsword. Elfriede rushed to Connar and punched the sinner in the leg to lower his body then uppercut them in the chin.

"After thirteen years, you still need my help." Elfriede took Connar's hand and pulled him up.

Uwe and the accessories where holding off the abductor but another wave of sinners was coming towards them.

"Then we fight together." Connar and Elfriede stood ready to fight. The first sinner swung her shortsword at Connar, The thief blocked with his hidden blade and Elfriede punched the sinner in the ribs. Another sinner charged Elfriede with a spear, she easily ducked under the attack and Connar stabbed them in the neck.

The sinners all switched to their guns and opened fire. Connar made another thorn wall to hide behind. "It's just like old times!" Connar search the two bodies and found a laser cannon.

"How do you figure? For one thing there weren't any guns back then." Elfriede took out a minigun from her weapons case.

The sinner's stopped firing to reload that's when Connar and Elfriede started up their own weapons, they stepped out from cover and opened fire. Elfriede's minigun tore the sinners to pieces while Connar's laser vaporized them.

"But there were people trying to kill us." The two held off the wave of sinner until their weapons ran out of ammo. Elfriede switched back to her knuckles and Connar dropped the laser cannon and extended his hidden blades.

The sinners came running to fight, Connar sidestepped the first one, leaving them for Elfriede to punch and break the chest of while Connar stabbed the next one in the eye.

Another sinner charged at Connar but the thief tossed them to the ground and impaled them in the neck. Elfriede rolled over Connar's back and punched the next sinner in the face.

Connar grabbed Elfriede's arm, he spun her around then let go, launching the girl to dropkick another sinner. Connar grabbed the next sinner with his thorn and swung them around to Elfriede who punched with in the spine, snapping it in half.

The last sinner tried to run but Connar and Elfriede threw their thorns and pulled the sinner between them, ripping them in half.

When the younger sinners finished they noticed Uwe was having a tough time with the spider abductor.

"Dad!" Elfriede ran to help.

Connar used his thorn to pull her back. "Search the bodies for grenades, I have a plan." The two got to work and found a dozen frag and a couple of sticky grenades. The thief stuck the sticky ones together then coated them with the frags.

"What are you-"

"Just watch this." Connar tossed the cluster of explosives into the air then threw his thorn at it, he swung them around then let them fly towards the abductor. "Uwe! Duck and cover!"

The veteran made a thorn wall as the cluster grenade landed on the robot spider and exploded, completely destroying the center of the machine.

Elfriede scanned the area to find all enemies down. "I think we're done here." Connar held out his fist and Elfriede bumped it. She lightly punched Connar in the side and the thief put his arm over her shoulders.

Uwe stood and smiled at the closeness of the two youths.

...

An hour later Uwe, Elfriede, and Connar returned to the con.

Connar stretched his arms up. "Back home again, or as close as we'll get anyway."

"Gimme a sit-rep on Nataile's platoon." Uwe asked his accessory.

"Checking unit status..."

Connar put his hands on his hips. "Maybe she got shot, only if I was so lucky."

The accessory spoke up again. "Survival confirmed."

"Damn it!"

"All sectors succeeded in repelling enemy assault. Casualty level: acceptable."

Uwe folded his arms and relaxed. "Guess that means you-know-who kept his nose out of this one. That's something at least."

"Mind filling me in?" Asked Connar.

Elfriede answered this time. "Don't tell me you've never heard of Abel?"

Connar brought up his hand to his chin. "I know the name, but that's about it."

Elfriede put her hands on her hips, in the same manner as Connar did. "Ever heard the phrase 'know your enemy'? You need to sharpen up, and fast."

"Hey, I'm plenty sharp sister. Either way can you fill me in?"

"Abel's Hourai's trump card. He's the strongest sinner anyone's ever seen. They even say he wiped out a whole con single handed."

Connar laughed. "Yeah people tend to talk, so I'll believe when I see it."

"Well anyway. He lives to fight, so whenever any of Hourai's allies take to the battlefield, he's liable to make an appearance. And if Hourai themselves are behind him. You'd better pray."

"I don't care who he is, this Abel gets in my way I'm stop him just like everyone else before him."

"You'd better forget any thought of taking him on." Said Uwe. "You also should take into account the fact that the guy has his own personal abductor. It's one of the three prototypes. Word is they're the original models all other abductors are based on."

Connar glared at Uwe with murder filled eyes. "This Abel gets in my way. I will stop him."

Uwe shacks his head. "Listen, the thing uses tech way beyond anything our lab rats can come up with. Damned thing can't be damaged by any weapon we got. They call it red rage." Uwe noticed that Connar's glare hadn't changed in light of this new information. "Knowing all that, you still think you can stop him?"

"I know I can stop him."

"You got a death wish or something?" Asked Efriede. "What happened to the Connar I knew who was careful and didn't like to start fights?"

Connar calmed down some. "People changed Elfy, I"m not afraid to fight anymore."

"I'm going back to my cell to rest. I suggest you two do the same." Uwe saluted the youths and left.

"Hey Elfy, let's go to the fueling station. We can finally catch up and talk about the old days."

Elfriede thought for a moment. "Okay, it been too long since we've seen each other." Connar ruffed Elfriede's hair. "You remember what happened last time you did that?"

"Yeah, you soaked me in the jaw." Connar lowered himself to her eye level and hugged her. "I missed you Elfy."

"Just don't do this where others can see us." The two headed for the lift.

...

Up on the railing Carlos watched the whole thing, holding back his chuckles.

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	27. Overlook of war

Chapter. 28

In a ruined area once used as a large industrial zone there waited an army of sinners. Waiting for the incoming attack.

Up on the catwalk above the machinery Natalie was scanning for enemy troop movement. "Huarai seems to be hitting the other fronts the most."

"We should still be on alert, we will be attack at any moment." Pointed Loan.

Alice held her spear at the ready. "Wonder how Connar is doing."

Natalie scoffed. "He'll be fine, a beast like him won't go down that easy."

"But he can't be all bad, remember how he lit up when he saw Elfriede? maybe he has some good in him."

The officer thought for a moment. "Still, don't get too close to him. Rumor has it that Connar might be a spy."

"You don't really believe that, do you? How could Connar be a spy? Spies are like secret and stuff, Connar kills people I know but he's never tried to hide it."

"Incoming forces!" Said Leon.

Natalie aimed her sniper rifle and shot one in the head. "We'll talk about this later. We have work to do. Stay up here and guard me from those worms, I'll shoot any in my cross hairs!"

"Got it Natey!"

Waves of sinners clashed with each other, both sides taking heavy losses. Some enemy sinners took to higher points in the refinery for better shots only for Natalie t sniper them down.

"You're really good at this Natey!"

Natalie shot another sinner then reloaded. "The point of a sniper rifle is to engage at long range, if you'd like I can teach you how to use one."

"Maybe later, look out!" A sinner form their sniper's nest and grappled up to them. Just as the sinner got in Alice impaled them on her spear. The girl tossed the sinner back to the ground.

Two more sinners got the same idea and used their thorns to climb up. Alice switched to her assault rifle and fired on the both, killing one one ground level and the other in the air.

Natalie tossed her sniper to Leon and drew her short sword. A sinner climbed up and Natalie stabbed them. "don't let any of these worms get up her Alice!"

"Holding the post!" Alice slashed another sinner with her spear.

Two biped abductors armed with laser cannons and energy shields arrived, blasting any and all sinners in their way. Friend and foe alike.

Natalie reached up to her earpiece. "All troops, focus your attention on the abductor!"

"Natey, with our forces engaged with the machines the enemy sinners will overwhelm us here." Stated Leon.

Alice drew her gun and shot down another sinner that got in their hide out. "Then we'll have to fight harder!"

A sinner creeped up on Alice and raised his great sword. Natalie used her thorn to pull the weapon away and cut the sinner's head off. "Keep your wits about you Alice!"

"Everyone out!" Leon grabbed Alice and jumped to the ground, fallowed by Natalie and her accessory. The sniper nest exploded as a sinner fired four missiles at their former location. On the ground the group was confronted with one of the abductors.

"Start cutting!" Natalie threw Alice a flare knife and grappled to one of the shield generators, Alice fallowed to the other generator and they both plunged their weapons into the abductor's shoulders.

On the ground Leon and the other accessory fired at any sinner's then got too close. The abductor crouched then hopped up.

"Jump!" Shouted Natalie. She and Alice got off the robot and it jumped up and down. When it stopped the two girls used their thorns to drag it down then got back on it's shoulders. As the abductor stood up it's arms came off and it fell on its knees.

The accessories shot down a pair of sinners with rocket launchers. "Come with me." Leon shouted to the other machine. The two grabbed the launchers and aimed at the abductor. "Alice! Natalie! Get to cover!"

The girls used their thorns to grapple up the side of a building to evade the blast. Leon fired first and took the abductor's head off, the other one fired and broke open the will'o pod.

"What do we do now."

Natalie took a frag grenade from her coat. "You have any of these?"

Alice pulled a grenade out of her dress pocket as well. "Just the sticky kind."

"Just as good, Throw'em at the will'o pod!" the two tossed their grenades at the abductor's chest, the mini bomb's explosions ignited the will'o in the machine and tore the machine apart.

The girls covered their eyes as bits of metal flew passed them. They watched the fight nearby die down then lowered themselves back down to street level.

"You okay Alice?"

"I think so."

"Leon!"

The accessory came running. "Yes Natey."

"Good work, we're going back to the panopticon. I want you to give Alice a full check to see if any bits of metal got her."

"Understood."

"I'm fine."

Natalie flicked Alice on the forehead. "You'll let Leon give you a check up and you will let him treat any and all injuries. Understood?"

"Understood..."

...

In the transport Natalie worked on her tablet, checking the files on other sinners. Leon was checking Alice for wounds, he relaxed once he found none.

"You're clear. Natey do you require medical aid?"

"No thank Leon, the operation was a success."

Alice hung her head. "But so many people have died."

"They were worthless worms, a drain on our panopticon."

"Then what am I Natey?"

"Don't do this Alice." Natalie got up and sat beside Alice. "You're nothing like those who died today. Don't think about it and focus on getting you're sentence down, okay?"

Alice laid her head on Natalie's arm. "Is that how you did it?"

"I had too." The officer lightly stroked Alice's hair. "I will keep you safe."

The transport stopped and the back door opened. "We're here, you should go to your cell and rest up." The two got up and walked to the lift. The lift took then to the code 5 cell block, where Alice got off. "I'll see you soon."

"Bye Natey." Alice waved as the lift doors closed to continue taking Natalie up.

...

Alice returned to her cell and laid on her bed. "Rest well Alice." Said Leon.

As Alice fell asleep the world around her had a purple glow to it. "What's going on?"

Just then Aries appeared in her cell. "Hello there!" Aries held out her hands. "Welcome to the immateriel plane, the magical realm between life and death!"

"WHAT!" Alice got up in a second.

"I'm Aries M. You're the second one to be able to see me, so does that mean you two are needed to change the future, or does it mean you two will bring about two different futures."

"Wait, what are you talking about?!"

Aries pulled down her cap. "Sorry, I'll start from the beginning. See Connar was the first one to see me. He was meant to take steps to bring about the great transformation, but I fear that he's lost his way in his blood lust. So now it's you're turn!"

"What do you mean, what do I do?"

"Look for more info, keep Beatrice safe, and stay close to Connar. He might not bring about the great transformation, but he'll be important for cutting you a path. Oh, one more thing. Make sure you tell Connar about the great loss, he still needs to know about that event."

"Wait!" The world went black the returned to normal. Alice fell to her knees shacking. _"Am I going to go insane, like Connar?"_

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	28. Catching up

Chapter. 29

"No there were five of them, you beat up two of them but eight more showed up and I lead our escape."

"If you didn't take more then what we planned they wouldn't have found us."

Connar and Elfriede reminiscing about old adventures in the fueling station. Mattias, Beatrice, and Uwe watched to two sinners from across the station.

"Anyone else disturbed right now?" Asked Mattias.

Beatrice tilted her head. "What do mean?"

"Look at him!" Mattias held out his hands at Connar.

Uwe stands up and pats Mattias on the head. "Maybe it's because he's found something to care about. Poeple who have nothing tend to be very jaded."

"Aren't you worried he might hit Elfriede?" Asked Beatrice.

"Are you saying my daughter can't protect herself?" Beatrice hung her head while Uwe went to join the two. "Mind if I join in?"

"No, no. Elfy and I are just catching up." Uwe sat down on the sofa across from them, Beatrice and Mattias quickly join too. Wanting to know about the relation between them.

"So how did you two meet?" Asked Beatrice.

Connar raised his index finger to his temple to remember. "Well, it was fourteen years back. I was just starting my favorite hobby. Stealing."

"Even then you were a thief, huh?" Pointed Mattias.

"I was pretty good at pickpocketing... Though I don't remember why. Anyway, I was able to take supplies from sinners as they walked by. I saw a girl with shoulder length blue hair walking around with this glowing thing and wanted to take."

Elfriede wore a light grin. "That's when he met me, He tried to take it but I socked him good."

"That was the first time I failed, I tried again."

"Then failed again."

"Then kept trying till it became a game."

"So what happened?" Asked Beatrice.

"Well..." Connar stretched his arms up. "I just walked up to her and asked to see it. The thing was a piece of a weapon case that still had some will'o in it."

Elfriede joined back in. "Then I told him 'now that I showed him my treasure, he had to show me one'."

"So I lead her to my hideout were I kept all my stolen goods. Weapons, items, tools, abductor parts. Anything I could get my hands on."

Uwe folded his arms. "So it was there you two became friends?"

The two nodded. "Yeah, we decided to team up. Elfy would be the muscle if we need brute force and I would find the escape if we needed to run."

Uwe laughed. "So that's why you took your training so seriously. You two were thick as thieves."

"We were thieves." Said Connar and Elfriede. The other three laughed.

"I smell love in the air." sang Mattias.

The 'couple' stood up and Mattias quickly backed up on the sofa that he fell over the back.

Elfriede cracked her knuckles. "Make another comment like that..."

Connar extended his blades. "And you'll know the true meaning of pain."

Uwe shock his head and smiled. "Thirteen years is a long time to remember someone."

Connar took the golden pendent out of his jacket. Upon see it Elfriede pulled out a silver locket from her leg bag. "We remembered with these."

"Can, can I see those?" Beatrice was shacking when see saw the two items. The two handed them over to the girl. "Do you know what these are?"

Connar shrugged. "Something my uncle gave me, he said the coin was for me and-"

"And the locket was for Elfriede." Finished Beatrice.

"You know this why?"

"Because this is from On High." Everyone was surprised by the statement. "This is a couple's locket. You put the coin in the locket..." Beatrice did so and twisted the coin, opening the locket.

Inside were two rings and a picture of a younger Connar and Elfriede. Connar had a big smile, his hair was shorter, and he had his hand on Elfriede's head. Elfriede was also smiling, her hair was longer, and she had her fist against Connar's cheek.

"They look so cute." Said Mattias, from behind the couch.

Connar Took the locket back, he closed it, removed the coin, and handed it back to Elfriede.

"So, what is that thing?" Asked Mattias.

"It's a tradition from On High, between couples. When The two finish their sentences, they're to be married."

"WHAT!" Mattias fell backwards. Connar and Elfriede were taken back, while Uwe was lightly surprised. "Connar has a fiancee!? No fair!"

"Shut the hell up!" Elfriede and Connar shouted and stood up. "We're not like that!"

"The proof is in you're hands." Pointed Uwe. The 'couple' looked at each other then looked away.

Elfriede glanced at Mattias, grinning menacingly and spoke before he open his mouth. "I'll kill you if any of you, ANY OF YOU, spread rumors about this. I'll rip your spine out of your mouth!"

"And that's after I tear your heart out." Connar and Elfriede quickly left the fueling station.

"Are you really okay with this?" Asked Beatrice.

Uwe shook his head. "Have you noticed the change in Connar since he's met Elfriede?"

Mattias eyes widened. "He's a lot less mean. Wait!" Mattias turned to Beatrice. "Did you say the thing was from On High?!" The girl nods. "I knew it! Connar really is from On High!"

...

Outside the 'couple' were punching pillars under the plaza.

"What the hell is wrong with those idiots!"

"We're just friends!"

"So what if we have some locket?!"

"We're not like that at all!"

"We're just friends!"

"I'm going to kill Mattias if he tells people!"

The two stopped as they're hands began to hurt. "So." Started Elfriede. "Are you really from On High?"

"I don't know... The first memory I have is meeting you."

Elfriede put her hands on her hips. "Flattery won't get you anywhere with me, mister."

"I'm serious, anything before that is a blur, I don't think I'm from On High I got the locket from my uncle, maybe he got it from someone from On High. I don't even remember what my uncle looks like." Connar then mimics Elfriede's stance. "Besides, we're already engaged, what more do I need to do?"

"You!" Elfriede swung her fist at Connar.

Connar dodged the attack and ran away, he leaped of the platform and into a building. The thief rolled into a landing and kept going. he reached the edge and jumped the gap.

Connar looked back and saw Elfriede was right behind him. "How are you keeping up with me?!"

"You taught everything I know!"

"Oh really?" Connar spotted a rod and leaped towards it, he grabbed on to the rod and swung around, when he was above the rod Connar pushed himself back, flying over Elfriede as she lunged for the rod as well.

The thief rolled then slid to a stop. "But not everything I know!" Connar ran back the way he came.

"CONNAR!" Elfriede landed in the building across from Connar then turned around to chase him.

Once Connar was out of eyesight of Elfriede he dove under some rubble to hide. He waited for a few minutes then stood up and rubbed the dust off.

As the thief turned around and Elfriede pressed her hand on Connar's face, shoving him to the ground. Elfriede pulled her other arm back to punch her prey. "Caught you again."

"Only because I want you too."

"Still arrogant." Elfriede released Connar then laid on the ground beside him. The two stared up into the sky, watching the clouds form.

"Just like old times, right Elfy?"

"Now we're older, going on tougher missions."

"Just means more fun."

Elfriede took out her locket, sliding it to Connar. "Here, this should be for someone special."

Connar grabbed the locked and slide it back. "Till I find that special someone, you keep it. Too many memories come from that thing for you to let go of it."

"Well aren't you a charmer."

"I try, that's why I like you. You're not like other girls. You're not afraid to get dirty to do what's important." The thief moved his hand onto Elfriede's and held it.

Elfriede could feel her face grow hotter. "Careful, you might make the rumors true."

"Well, I am a thief."

...

Connar returned to the code 4 cell block to rest, just as he got to his cell Natalie and her four accessories arrived. "I'm about to issue three operations in order to try and counter the current Houraian threat."

"Why are you telling me? I'm not gonna hold your hand lap dog."

"You'll be taking part in all three. Refusal is not an option. I'll be joining you on the next one. Put a failure on my record, and you'll regret it."

Connar extended his hidden blades. "Would killing you count as a failure, lap dog?"

The accessories held out their hands to bind Connar if he attack. Natalie thought back to earlier that and decided to try a different approach. "Elfriede has submitted a declaration of willingness to cooperate with you."

Connar eased up and retracted his blades. "Elfy? Really?"

"The operations will begin soon, got ready and meet me in the transport station." Natalie turned and walked away, grinning to herself now that she has a way to control Connar.

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	29. Chaos spiral

Chapter. 30

"I... I was not aware that you took part in operations too, Natalie." Said Beatrice nervously.

Beatrice, Alice, Leon, Natalie, and Connar rode the transport to their next mission site. Alcie sat between Natlie and Leon as she was still shake up about her dream, she wanted to talk to Connar about it but as he made death glares at Natalie there was no way she could talk to him right now.

"Well, I do. We can't leave everything to you miserable sinners, can we?" Stated Natalie.

"Could have fooled me." Replied Connar.

Natalie grinned. "Fooling you is easy."

"You want to start something?!" Connar stood up, with his hidden blades out. "Your drones aren't here to save you now bitch."

Natalie stood up as well and drew her short sword. "I don't need my accessories to take you. I did it before, didn't I?"

"You took me by surprise and had better equipment. It won't happen again."

"If I wasn't a peace and stability officer I'd cut you down right here." Connar swung his right arm to stab but Natalie blocked with her sword.

The door lowered as the group arrived at their destination. "We'll settle this later." Connar backed off and ran out side. Natalie switched to her sniper rifle and fallowed after him, the others right behind.

The area was an old will'o refinery with towers and large pipes scattered around. Connar grappled to the top of a tower, once there he spotted a pair of sinners with their accessories right behind.

The thief leaped off the tower then threw his thorn at the middle of tower and swung around. The sinners drew laser cannons and their accessories used rocket launchers.

...

Natalie and Alice dove for cover behind large cargo containers. One of the accessories fired a rocket at the container above the one the girl were hiding behind, pushing it off by the rocket blast.

Natalie grabbed Alice and used her thorn to get out of the way. Leon ducked under a cement road black and took aimed with his sniper but had to hide again as the sinners used their laser cannons.

The officer used her sniper to shot one of the sinners but the accessory returned fire, hitting Natalie in the chest.

"Natey!" Alice used her green thorn to heal her. "Please stay with me. Leon!"

The accessory looked though its scope and shot a pipe which released steam on the enemy. They dropped their weapons and held up their arms the cover their faces. Leon shot one of the accessories, Alice picked up Natalie's sniper and shot the other one.

The lone sinner got out of the steam and fell to his knees, then was shot through the head by Alice and Leon. "That's what you get for hurting Natey."

...

Beatrice climbed up the pipe work and found a citizen. "It's okay, I'm here to get you home." Beatrice picked up the citizen and jumped down. As she was falling she spotted another citizen about to be picked by an enemy sinner.

Beatrice handed the citizen to her accessory then took out her pistol to shot the sinner stealing the other citizen. Once she spun around the citizen was flying at her, Beatrice held out her hands and fell to the ground as she caught them.

Running back to the RRU Beatrice spotted the others, Alice healing Nataile while Leon was guarding them. "What happened?!"

"Natalie got hurt!" Alice then noticed the citizens Beatrice and her accessory were carrying. "I got her, you get them to safety!"

Beatrice nodded and ran to the RRU again.

Natalie's pain subsided in the green light of Alice's thorn. "Stay down Miss Woo. I'm not done yet."

Natalie looked around to see no one around. "Where's Connar?"

"Still haven't come back yet, just hope he didn't hurt any citizens." Alice removed her thorn from Natalie and stood up. "Okay Miss Woo, your good to go!"

...

Where the 'flying' citizen was Connar stomped on an enemy sinner's head until it cracked. Looking around he saw three sinners, each carrying a citizen to their RRU, with their accessories walking behind them.

Connar leaped from his position and threw his to one of the pipes. Connar swung under the pipe and kicked his legs forward for more momentum, then at the top of his swing Connar launched himself at the group of enemies.

The accessories turned around and Connar planted his feet on the middle accessory, as the machine fell Connar extended his hidden blades and impaled them into the accessories necks, shoved them down then stomped on the accessories head.

The sinner's heard the attack, they turned and the middle sinner was hit in the forehead with a flare knife, thrown by Connar.

The sinner's backed away was their ally was down, they turned back to their RRU and put down their citizens. "Go! get to-"

The sinner was cut off as Connar beheaded the them with one swing of his chainsaw sword. The two citizens ran for the RRU but Connar unpinned a frag grenade and tossed it into the RRU.

The citizens stopped and ran back the way they came, the RRU exploded and the blast knocked them down. The three citizens panicked as Connar searched the bodies, he smiles menacingly as he drew a flamethrower off of one of them.

"Alright you shits, march."

"No!" One of the citizens stepped up to Connar, but thief used his newly acquired flamethrower on him. The citizen chased the others around, screaming for help until he finally feel to the ground and burned.

"Your well being means nothing to me. Unless you want to be cooked like your friend here, walk." The remaining citizens nodded and slowly walked passed Connar. The thief pointed his new weapon to the air and released a jet of flame to scare the captives. "Faster! Like your life depended on it!" The citizens put their hands up and began speed walking to the other side of the refinery.

...

Beatrice delivered the two citizens to the RRU, Natalie, Alice and their accessories joined her. "How many citizens do we have now?"

Natalie took out her tablet. "Two, there's three more."

"Two more!" Everyone turned to see Connar walking two citizens to them at gunpoint with a flamethrower.

The captives saw the other sinners and ran towards them, almost jumping into the arms of Beatrice and Alice.

"Help us!"

He's crazy! He's gonna kill us."

Alice knew she wasn't going to get anything out of them in this state, she turned her attention to Connar. "What did you do to them!?"

Connar just gave a cold stare that even Natalie flinched at. He carried his weapon into the transport, Alice and Beatrice lead the citizens to the RRU and climbed into the transport.

Leon grabbed Natalie's shoulder. "Connar's mentality has changed, use extreme caution."

"Thank you Leon" The officer and the accessory boarded the transport.

Everyone took their seat opponent of Connar, who still held the flamethrower.

"Could you put that way?" Asked Alice, to which Connar pointed the weapon at her.

With Alice in trouble Natalie stood up. "Holster that weapon before, AH!" Connar pointed the flamethrower at Natalie and pulled the trigger.

Natalie dived to the deck as the fire flowed over her. Leon charged at Connar but the thief drew his assault rifle and fired half the clip into Leon.

Everyone stayed still during the whole ride back to the panopticon, as the door opened Connar backed out of the vehicle, holding up the rifle and dragging the flamethrower. Once outside he put away his weapons and walked away to the elevator.

Alice checked on Natalie and Beatrice checked on Leon. Beatrice's thorn removed the bullets and repaired the accessory. Natalie had first degree burns on her back, Alice used a will'o pad from her medkit to treat the officer.

Seeing Natalie in pain again, by one of her own friends. Alice grit her teeth in anger. "_Connar, he needs to be stopped. If no will do it, I will."_

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	30. Awakening

Chapter. 31

The following day Alice and Leon returned to the warrens. The two were on a mission for vengeance for Natalie. "Where is he?" Leon scanned the warren then pointed to a flit of stairs, Alice tightly gripped her assault rifle and fallowed.

The lower levels of the warren were barren of any life, no one came down for lack of entertainment. With no one there it meant no officers to watch the area either, making it the perfect place for Connar to train. Alice descended the stairs and found Connar, throwing flare knifes at his accessory.

"Warning. Harming state property will result in an eight hundred year sentence extension." The machine spoke, dodging another knife.

"Then you better keep moving."

Alice motioned Leon to circle around while she got closer. Connar heard some rubble move and stop what he was doing. Alice know that Connar was on to her and now it came down to who was faster. Alice stood up and fired while Connar ducked and made a thorn wall.

Connar ran after Alice as she reloaded. Alice came to a ledge and Connar tackled her off. The two used their thorns to catch themselves and land safely on the ground.

Alice drew her spear. "You're gonna pay!"

Connar drew his chainsaw sword and flare knife, which he held in a reverse grip.

Alice opened by lunging with her spear, Connar blocked with his chainsaw then cut Alice's arm with his knife. The pain made Alice lose focus and Connar swung his sword down to knock it out of her hands, followed by a punch to her face to push Alice back against a concrete pillar.

Connar sheathed his weapons then kicked up the spear at his feet. The thief grabbed the spear and threw it at Alice.

Alice ducked and covered her ears as her spear impaled the pillar. Alice pulled her weapon free and attacked,

Connar got out his sword again and deflected each of Alice's swings. Alice pushed Connar back with each hit until his back was against a wall. Alice plunged her spear for the final hit.

Connar dropped his sword and sidestepped the attack, he grabbed Alice by the throat with one hand and her spear with the other. The thief ripped the weapon out of Alice's hand then slammed the girl into the wall.

"Let, let go of, me!" Alice gasped between breaths.

Connar tightened his hold on her neck, he threw down the spear and extended his hidden blade.

Alice tried to kick her captor in the groin but Connar stabbed her leg to stop her.

_"Am I gonna die here?"_ Alice was losing consciousness, her struggle was getting weaker.

Leon came from behind Connar and put him in a choke hold. Connar let go of Alice and put his hands on? Leon's arm to get free.

Alice fell on her knees coughing, trying to breath in the needed air.

Connar used his blade and stabbed Leon in the side of the head, Leon staggered and Connar pushed him into a pillar. The thief broke free and stabbed Leon with both blades, he took them out to stab again.

Twelve accessories arrived on the scene. Each held out their right hands and fired at Connar, binding his arms to his sides.

Two accessories stepped aside, letting Natalie walk through. The officer drew a pistol and shot Connar below the heart, the sinner fell on one knee as blood dripped from the wound.

"Get away from Alice!"

"I'll knock that look off-" Connar stood up once more. Natalie shot him again this, Connar didn't go down. "YOUR ARROGANT FACE!" Connar charged at Natalie.

An accessory stepped in front of the officer and swung a short sword. Connar ducked under the sword and uppercut the machine in the chin with the top of his head.

Connar round house kicked another accessory bot one of them stroke Connar in the face with the butt of its rifle. Natalie looked down on the bound sinner, his right eye was shut and leaking blood. She kicked the thief in the chest, knocking him on his back. Natalie stomped on Connar's chest, grinding her heel on the open wound.

When she stopped Connar was breathing hard and on the verge of passing out.

Alice got up and ran to the officer. "What are you doing here Natey?! You're hurt!"

Natalie slapped Alice across the face. "I could ask you the same thing!"

"I was getting revenge for you."

"He almost killed you!"

"I'm sorry!"

Natalie hugged Alice. The girl only stood there, for fear of touching Natalie's burns still on her back. "Don't ever do this again. Your life is too impotent to throw away on worms like him"

"I'm sorry..." Alice cried in Natalie's arms.

Leon glanced back to Connar, his system were going nuts and the words 'fallen protocol' appeared in his vision "Get back!" Leon pulled the women away from the accessories. They all drew their weapons and pointed them at Connar.

"What's going on?!" Asked Natalie.

"A fallen has appeared."

"A what?"

Connar climbed back on his feet, his left eye glowing sky blue. Connar struggled against his binds and broke free. The accessories opened fire and Connar made a wall of throns. This time the wall launched throns at the accessories to tear them apart.

P and S officers came running down, all of them bearing weapons. One of the officers rushed in with a short sword, Connar dodged the attack and stabbed the officer in the neck with a hidden blade. The sinner took the sword and sliced the officer in half, then kick the top half back to the other officers.

**"Who's next?"** Connar spoke in a raspy voice. He held out his weapon loosely, ready to fight anyone willing.

An officer crept behind Connar as another charged him head on. The officer swung a great sword and Connar leaned back then sliced the officer behind him through the torso. Connar pressed his hands on the ground and kicked the officer into the air. When Connar was back on his feet he jumped and slashed the officer seven times, letting the pieces fall.

All of the officers took a step back, one was calling for back up. "Dracula has gone rogue, we need reinforcements! Repeat we neahh!"

Connar used his thorn to pull the officer closer and run his sword into them. **"That codename you like so much, want to know how I got it?"** Connar let go of the officer and beheaded him. **"How about I give you all a demonstration." **The sinner took a fighting pose. **"Come on! Dracula's hungry."**

"We can take him!" One of the officers shouted. The rest of the P and S charged in to attack.

An officer with a hammer raised his weapon, Connar plunged his sword into the officer's neck. The sinner pulled the sword out then swung it at his next opponent.

The blood got in their eyes and Connar took their head off in the next swing. The next officer swung low with a katana, trying to slice Connar in half.

The thief slid under the sword and cut the officer's legs off. Connar got back on his feet and sent his sword through the top of the officer's skull.

Taking the katana Connar slashed through the next officer, blood rained down on him.

The accessories still working fired binds on Connar. The sinner broke through again so the accessories fired multiple shots until Connar couldn't get free.

An Officer talked Connar, shoving him into a wall. "You're going to fry for this, sicko."

**"Now you're just being mean. HAHAHAHAHAHA!" **Connar took a bite out of the officer's next, tearing a chunk of flesh off.

The officer backed off with his hand on his neck. The last officer tried to help, when they removed his hand blood sprayed out, killing him in seconds.

"Don't look!" Natalie protected Alice from the sight. She put Alice on Leon's back to carry her out.

Connar spit out the flesh and licked the blood on his lower lip. **"What's the matter, scared? HAHAHAHA!"**

The officer turned and ran for it. Connar broke out of the binds once more and drew his assault rifle, shooting down all the remaining accessories.

The sinner used his thorn to catch the last officer and pull him back. Connar held the officer by the head and smashed them into the cement wall repeatedly, laughing the entire time.

Once Connar was the only living soul left his eye returned to its original color and he lose consciousness.

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	31. Comfort

Chapter. 32

Back up on the higher levels of the warrens Natalie was calling her boss about what happen with Connar while Leon used a medkit to patch up Alice's leg.

"Sir, what aren't you telling me? If I'm to do my job I need to know about this 'fallen protocol' the accessories have. Fine!" Natalie took off her glasses and pitched her nose. "I hate being left in the dark. Leon!"

"Yes Miss Woo." Leon placed a will'o pad on Alice's leg. "Please stand Alice."

The girl did so, it still hurt but the pain was fading. "Thank you Leon!"

"Of course. Now, you wish to know about the fallen, right?" Natalie nods. "The fallen is, or was someone from On High. Someone who has actually learned how control the will'o in their body and the will'o around them. There's even a prophecy as some would call it."

"A what now?" Asked Alice.

"It's a foretelling or prediction of what is to come." Explained. Natalie. "Are you telling me my higher ups believe in some idiotic superstition?"

"Yes. They prophecy goes like this. 'An angel will fall from grace to the surface below, becoming a sinner. Should that sinner be greeted by pain they will awakened to great power and destroy the world as we know it.' Or something like that, it changes with each telling."

The officer sighs. "That's usually how stories go, so what is this 'fallen protocol'?"

"All accessories have it, should a sinner emit large amounts of will'o the protocol activates. They are then to kill the source."

"If all accessories have this why wouldn't they tell me when I asked?"

"It's restricted to all but the highest level, they fear the fallen will become a symbol of hope and leadership to other sinners and start a revolt. All accessories are programed to go offline if they talk about, before you ask I do not have such programing. But I wish you keep that to yourselves."

"Yes, of course."

"This is all making my head hurt." Pointed Alice.

Leon patted Alice on the head. "It's all right, but be careful. Now that you two have seen a fallen first hand the higher ups will be watching you closely. Don't tell anyone about until they take you in for questioning-"

Natalie got a call and tapped her earpiece. "Hello? Yes... Yes of course... No I haven't... Understood, over and out."

Alice was concerned. "Who was that?"

"They want me to report on what happened."

Leon grabs Natalie by the shoulder. "Don't tell them anything! Lie, mislead them, say nothing about the glowing eye. If they have even a hint that you saw something proving Connar's a fallen they will... erase you."

Alice could see a trace of fear in Natalie's face. "Then what do we do?"

"Just tell them Connar went mad and killed the officers and accessories. They'll buy since they are grooming him to be the next Abel. What with letting him get away with killing officers and citizens."

"Thank you Leon." Natalie turned to Alice and kissed her forehead. "I have to go, Will you be okay?"

"Yes Natey, I think I will be in a little while."

"Okay, I'll call you and go to my apartment and get what happen out of our minds." Natalie hugged Alice and walked away.

"Please be safe Natey."

Leon patted Alice shoulder. "You should return to your cell and rest, I must leave you for maintain, please don't tell anyone about what you saw. Once the P and S get their hands on Connar everything will return to normal." Leon left Alice to get his body repaired, once he was gone Alice left for a quiet spot to think.

...

Alice returned to the code 5 cell block, she leaned on the railing watching the sinners and citizens go about their day.

"A penny for your thoughts?"

Alice jumped as Carlos approached her. "Oh, Carlos. Sorry I'm just-"

"High strung today?"

"Yeah."

"Care to talk about it?"

Alice fidgeted with her hands. "I can't, It makes me sick to think about it."

"Keeping secrets, huh? And I thought we we're friends." Carlos joked.

"We are friends!" Alice needed someone to talk too before it ate her up inside, she thought there wouldn't be any harm in talking about her fight at least. "Yesterday Connar attacked some of my friends. I thought I'd beat him up. You know, as a warning and stop when he asked why I attacked him."

For once Carlos was interested in what happened. "So what happened?"

"He never stopped to talk, never asked why. He was dead set on killing me, he would've if Leon didn't save me." Alice brought her hands to her face. "Connar didn't care why I attacked him, he was going to kill me without knowing why and didn't care. Everyone was right, he is a monster."

Carlos rests his arm on Alice's, rubbing it gently. "Must have raddled you pretty bad if it made you that jumpy, hehehe."

"It's not funny!" Alice places her fist on her hips.

Carlos puts his hands up. "Sorry, sorry, hehehe. You just look so cute when you're angry."

Alice lowered her gaze with a red face. "Would you stop teasing me, I know the type of guy who plays with people."

"I'm serous. Something about you makes we want to drop the games." The male sinner looks around. "Say where's your accessory?"

"He's off getting fixed up, why?"

Carlos makes a slight smile. "Then maybe you'd like to spent some time with me, learn how to use that spear better. we'll call it a date if you would."

"Okay!" Alice perks up, she takes Carlos' hand and the two head for the elevator. "Carlos."

"Yeah."

"Thank you for listening." Alice smiled as she brushed her hair past her shoulder.

"Of course." Carlos didn't know why but the more time he spent around Alice the more he wanted to know her. He couldn't point it out but there was something special about her.

...

The two found a quite place in the warren to practice. There Carlos gave tips on Alice as she used her spear. "Use your off hand to pull on the spear, it puts more force into the swing."

"Okay!" Alice tried different kinds of attacks with her weapon, each one Carlos told her how she could improve.

"I think that's enough for today."

Alice nods and sheaths her weapon. "Thank you for helping me Carlos."

"Well, a cute thing like you needs to be able to protect herself."

"Thank you." Alice approached Carlos, she felt unsure of herself.

"What?"

Alice leaned closer and kissed Carlos' cheek. "You're not what other people say you are, you're actually very sweet at times."

This time Carlos turned away with a red face. "I ah, I should go... people to talk too."

"Okay, and thank you again." Alice ran off to the panopticon.

Carlos just stood there with his hand on his cheek.

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	32. Monster in hiding

Chapter. 33

"Okay, try again." Connar had lost count of how many time he found himself in a black void, each time he come see a blue light and ran for it. When he got to it Connar woke up in what seemed like a clinic, he heard some doctors talking about increasing the dose and Connar would pass out again.

Connar thought about ignoring the light but he felt his body trying to taring itself apart if he didn't go to the light. The thief touched the light again, remaining consciousness again.

"He's awake, dose him again."

"We can't. Any higher will kill him."

"That's what you said about the last four times."

"We can't pump it any faster."

Connar's vision was clearing and he could see several machines around him.

"The doses are losing their effect, he keeps waking up every two hours."

"The will'o keeps pushing against the drugs. We use stronger drugs, the will'o only gets stronger."

Connar could feel restrains holding his body down. "Where... What is this..." None of the doctors heard Connar speak.

"The will'o is there!"

"It disappears every time we try to get a beat on it."

"Why can't we just cut him open?"

"The higher ups would never go for that. They think he's the one, like that girl."

"I need... to get up..." Connar could barely speak, his voice still didn't reach the doctors. "Hey... listen to me... where-"

"He's still awake? Use more, all of it if you have too." One of the connected a new bag to the IV in Connar's arm.

"Hey... didn't you hear me..." Connar struggled to raise his voice.

"The will'o is back."

"That was quick, what's it doing?"

"It's, spiking even higher. What's-"

Connar's eyes glowed blue, he pulled his left arm free and grabbed the doctor by the throat. **"Didn't you hear me?"** Connar crushed the doctor's neck, letting their head fall to the floor.

"Call the team outside! Some sedated him!"

Another doctor rushed to Connar with a needle. The sinner pulled the IV out of his arm and stabbed it in the doctor's eye. Connar pulled on the strap on his other arm and ripped it off, then did the same to the straps on his legs.

Five soldiers with assault rifles burst into the lab. Connar rolled out of bed and flipped the beds on it's side, Connar kicked the bed towards the soldiers.

"Stop him!" Shouted one of the doctors.

Connar grabbed the IV stand and charged the soldiers. He swung at one of them and broke the soldier's neck as well as break the stand in half.

A soldier switched to a bent sword and swung. Connar got up close to the soldier and plunger the broke IV stand into their heart. The other three soldier fired their rifles.

Connar swung the body around as a shield, when they stopped Connar took the gun off the soldier and sprayed the soldiers with bullets.

Two of the doctors ran for the exit, Connar threw the rifle and hit one in the head, then threw the bent sword and lodging in their back.

One of the doctors picked a shortsword form one of the dead soldiers and attacked. Connar easily dodged and hit the doctor in the head with his elbow, while they were down he took the weapon.

Connar looked at the remaining two doctors then back to the body. **"One second."** Connar sliced open the dead doctor's back and ripped out the spine. The sinner dropped the sword and approached the doctors. **"Either of you ever seen someone get beaten to death with a human spine."** The doctors glanced to the door. Connar saw it and kicked one of the machine down to block it. **"Me neither, so this will be a learning experience for all of us! HAHAHAHAHA!"**

The two doctors armed themselves with guns from the fallen soldiers. Stay back! I know how to use this, I'll kill you!"

Connar grabbed the gun and took it away from the doctor then hit him with the spine. **"If you did, you'd know it was empty."** Connar stroke the doctor with the spine over and over with more blood flying out with each it. Connar broke open the skull and smashed the doctor's brain, now covered in blood and gore Connar dropped the spine and let out a sigh. **"That, felt, great."**

The last doctor ran for the door, as he opened it Connar grabbed him and pressed his head on the door frame. Connar swung the door shut, hitting the doctor in the head.

"Please stop, I beg you!"

Connar didn't listen and kept slamming the door into the doctor's head till it was a bloody mess on the floor. Connar opened the door and walked out, leaving the mess behind him.

Out in the hall Connar's eyes returned to normal, The thief felt weak and leaned on a wall for support. "What was? Where did I?" Connar passed out on the ground, listening to footsteps getting louder.

...

When Connar woke up he was back in his cell, he expected Aries to come see him but nothing happened.

The thief got up on unstable feet then noticed he was painted in blood. "Great, this time I don't even remember it happening." Connar changed into a red shirt under a green jacket and light blue jeans. Once he finished changing Connar went to the door. "I need to get out."

"Exit permit granted." The accessory stepped aside.

Out of the cell the first thing Connar wanted was air and headed for the elevator. Once in the warrens he spotted Mattias, Beatrice, and Alice talking about something. Alice saw Connar first and pointed to him.

Some of the people in the warren saw Connar too and started to leave.

Mattias was the first to greet the thief. "Well where have you been? What chick are you aiming to heartbreak."

"Not in the mood Mattias."

Beatrice noticed the tired look in Connar's face. "Are you okay?"

"I've felt better."

"Want were you doing? You've been gone for four days."

"Four days!" Connar stepped back after this revaluation

Alice nods to confirm. "Yeah, Elfriede has been worried sick."

"Where is she?!"

"The fu-" Connar took off before Alice finished her second word. "Hey I need to talk to you too!" Connar didn't stop running, either he didn't hear her or didn't care.

Mattias rubs the back of his head. "I've never seen that guy run THAT fast."

"Elfriede must be special to him." Seeing Connar run to the fueling station made Alice rethink her opinion of the thief. _"Maybe he isn't a monster, maybe there is some humanity in him."_

Connar came down the stairs and turned a corner, he stopped when he saw Elfriede walking out. "Elfy!" He shouted.

The girl heard him and ran towards him. First thing she did was punch him in the chest. "Where have you been?!"

"I don't know."

Elfriede punched him again. "You think I'll believe that?! You've been gone for four days!"

"I don't know Elfy, I mean it! Can we please just go inside I need something to drink. I feel ill."

"Fine." The two went inside, Connar took a seat on one of the sofas while Elfriede got a cola. She placed the drink in front of him then sat beside him. "Okay, start talking."

Connar took a sip of his soda. "Well, it started when I was practicing throwing my knifes. Alice came at me and started shooting."

"Really now." Elfriede found this new hard to believe. "Little miss sweet just attacked you out of the blue."

"It's what happened, you wanted the story and I"m telling you."

"Okay, why did she attack you."

"I don't know."

"You didn't ask?"

"Does it matter? Anyone gets in my way will be cut down. Oh yeah, 'miss sweet' as you call her is quite friendly with Natalie. I saw it when I was beaten by that which." Conner clinched his fist. "I'll kill that lap dog."

Elfriede eased up on Connar, she put her hand on Connar's and he immediately calmed down. "So you were recovering in your cell all this time?"

"I don't know. Some things happened, it's too blurry to remember clearly."

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	33. Bonds

Chapter. 34

Elfriede got Connar caught up with what was happening, in return Connar tried to explain why he went missing. Connar had trouble believing what he was saying but Elfriede quietly listened as if understanding what had happened.

Connar found it odd but he didn't care, he was just happy to have someone to talk too. The pair spent an hour in the fueling station when Elfriede's accessory told her that Uwe wanted her.

"Time to go." Said Elfriede as she got up.

"I'll walk with you." Connar got up as well. "Thank you Elfy... I'm sorry I scared you and everyone."

Elfriede gave a light smile and lightly punched Connar in the chest. "Just don't do it again, or I'll start hitting harder." She turned and the two left the station.

_"So glad to have her back in my life again." _Connar let out a soft sigh and walked out as well.

Outside the station Connar and Elfriede was approached by Beatrice. "Hello Elfriede. Um, Connar." She spoke meekly. "I-I am sorry to bother you... I just wanted to ask you something."

Connar snapped his fingers. "Then let's go, I got better things to do."

"It's my father... I cannot seem to find out anything about him... About where he went."

"And I care why again?"

Beatrice bowed to Connar. "Please! I am at a loss as to what to do!"

Connar just folded his arms. "Again, why do I care?"

"Please!" Beatrice sounded like she was about to cry. "I need to find him!"

"Why? He left you, get over it and move on."

Beatrice raised herself, with tears in her eyes. "How can you say that?! He's my father you-!"

Connar held a hidden blade to Beatrice neck. "Your father left you, get over it and move on. A man who leaves his family isn't even worth being called human."

"Connar!" Elfriede shouted with authority.

Connar retracted his blade and Beatrice stepped back. "If it's really so important for you to find him just ask around."

"I, I can't. Julien said-"

"Who cares about what a citizen says?! Just go up to every human with a pulse and say 'hey, have you seen my father Cesare?'. Not that hard woman."

"Wh!? Did you say Cesare? I know ol' Cesare!" An old man sitting outside the fueling station spoke to the sinners.

Connar pointed at the old man. "I told you so."

Beatrice quickly wiped her tears away. "Are you serous?!"

"Wassat!? Course I'm... s-serous! Tall bloke... Snappy dresser... Didn't like... High places, if you know what I mean... Heh heh!"

Beatrice held her hands together. "Oh my! You know him! You really knew my father!"

The discretion of Beatrice's father clicked with Connar, he felt like he's see someone like that before.

"Heh! Ohh, I knew him alright! Better then I knew... Better then I knew my own father! Gah hah hah!"

"And..." Connar was getting impatient.

"Well, he was... He was definitely a bloke... And... um... He was... He was... He was..."

Umm, Hello? Excuse me?" Asked Beatrice.

The old man fell asleep.

"Okay, fine." Connar grabbed the old man by the jacket collar and lifted him up, the thief shoved the old man against the wall and pressed his arm on the man's chest. "Ready to talk?"

"Connar!" Beatrice tried to get the thief away.

Connar stroke Beatrice away with his elbow, he extended his hidden blade and stabbed the old man. "How about now?" Connar pulled out his blade and stabbed him again. "Now?"

Leon came running down the stairs and tackled Connar, Alice caught the old man and healed him then let him go.

"Get off me!" Conner pushed the accessory off of him, as he got up Leon grabbed Connar by the arm and swung him around into the station wall.

"Leon be careful!" Shouted Alice.

The accessory detected rising will'o levels in Connar and backed away. The thief's eyes glowed blue once more, Connar brought his hands to his face and his body was shaking.

"Go! Now!" Leon took Alice's hand and ran with Beatrice.

Elfriede stayed to watch what was happening to Connar. "Connar! You need to calm down!"

"I, **y****ou will...** What is... **Elfy... **Help **me.**"

Connar fell on his knees then on his hands, Connar's eyes were rapidly swapping colors. Elfriede put her hand on the thief's shoulder. "I'm right here. Just breath and calm down."

The shacking slowed and Connar's eyes stopped changing and returned to brown. "Elfy? What just happened?"

"It's okay, you just blacked out. Have these been happening a lot?" Connar loss consciousness and collapsed in Elfriede's arms. Connar's accessory went to pick up him to carry him back to his cell. "Stay away from him!" Elfriede shoved the robot away and dragged Connar back into the fueling station.

...

Back on the upper level Leon continued pulling Alice away. "Stop it Leon! Let go!"

The accessory stopped. "Something's happened. Connar's will'o levels have decreased."

"What?! Then we should see what happened!"

"No, my duty is to protect you."

Alice pulled her arm free. "I have to know! If Connar is a fallen as it's called we have to know what sets him off. I won't let him hurt you, me, or Natey."

"Are you sure about this? This isn't something you have to do and can leave to the P and S officers."

Alice nods. "Absolutely."

Leon took a moment to think then sighed. "Fine. But you will stay behind me."

"Thank you Leon."

The accessory lead Alice back down the stairs and into the fueling station. Once inside they saw Elfriede tending to an unconscious Connar.

Right behind them Uwe came in. "Elfriede what's, what happened here?"

Elfriede explained what happened to the group. When she finished Connar started waking up. Leon held his arm up to keep Alice back.

Elfriede leaned closer to the thief. "Connar? Are you, you?"

"What?" Connar rubbed his forehead. "Why did I pass out?"

"Does the fallen mean anything to you?" Asked Alice.

"The hell is that?"

"I don't think I want to know." Said Uwe. "Oh, Elfriede our next operation is ready."

"Okay." Elfriede stood up. "I'll see you later Connar, try not to get angry." The girl left with her father.

_"What's that about?"_ Thought Connar.

Alice watched them leave then turned to Connar. "Can I talk to you about something?"

"You looking for a second round?"

Alice took a seat opposition of Connar. "No, Do you know about the great loss?"

Connar put his hands up. "Why would I know that? What's with you with think I know thing?"

"His will'o is spiking." Said Leon.

"What? What is this?"

Alice could see that Connar was more confused then anger. She decided to change tactics. "Aries told me to tell you about the great loss."

Connar leaned closer. "How do you know Aries?"

"She came to me in a dream. Said I had to save the world."

"The great transformation. So I'm not going insane."

"What's the great transformation?"

Connar laid back on the sofa. "If I had to guess, changing the world back to the way it was. Before it was destroyed."

"So now what happens?"

"A ghost woman is now seeing you as well as me, saying we have to 'save the world' or the like. I'm passing out at random times and finding myself in different locations, why is the question."

Leon placed a hand on Alice shoulder. "Be careful on what you tell."

Alice nods. "Okay. First, you should know what the great loss is?"

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	34. Untold truths

Chapter. 35

Connar laid back on the sofa once Alice finished. "So do you know why the con was roasted?"

"None. It couldn't have been On High because Beatrice said they don't destroy panoticons since it's a waste of resources."

"Not necessarily. Not everyone is chained to logic, maybe something was there that was worth the lost."

"Like what?"

Connar folded his arms. "That's the question."

Leon patted Alice's head. "I just got a message from Natalie, our next operation is ready."

"Thank you Leon." Alice stood up and went for the exit.

"Why do you call her Natey?"

Alice turned back to Connar. "Why do you call her lap dog?"

"Because that's what she is. I can sense a story between you two. What is it?"

"I'll tell you later, Miss Woo needs me." With that Alice walked out.

Connar laid his head back and closed his eyes.

**_"Devarja!" _**Connar opened his eyes and found himself in a plaza, with real grass, trees, wall, and the roof were made of glass.

_"What is this?" _Thought Connar. His body walked to the large window, seeing a clear blue sky with the clouds below. _"Is this On High?"_

_**"Devarja!"**_ Connar turned to see a woman running towards him. The looked to be in her mid thirties, she had long chestnut hair and amber eye. The woman wore the same clothes Beatrice and sylvia did. _**"L**__**ucius wants to talk to you, something about the will'o research going too far."**_

Connar's body moved again, placing its hand on the woman's face and brushed her hair back. _**"It**** hasn't gone 'too far' as they're calling it. No one is getting hurt, I swear to you**_ **Mireille."** Connar drew closer and kissed the woman._**  
**_

Connar jerked awake with a headache. "What was...?" The headache faded and Connar brought his hands to his lips. He could still feel the kiss. "What is wrong with me?" Full of questions Connar stood up and walked out, looking to get answers.

Outside the fueling station Connar ran into three people in tan officer uniforms. "Can I help you?"

One of the men pulled out a bottle and sprayed Connar in the face, causing him to pass out. "Carry them." He ordered.

Two of the men grabbed Connar and lifted him up, putting his arms over their shoulders.

Connar reawakened, his eyes glowing once more. He stood up and stabbed the two men in the back of their necks. The man with the spray tried to knock out Connar but the sinner put his hand in front of the spray to block it.

The officer drew a bent sword and Connar just kicked it, lounging the weapon into the roof. "Who, who are you?!"

Connar put one of his blades into the man's throat, and the other in his heart. **"The original sinner." **Connar tossed the man off the side to fall three stories.

The thief regained his senses. His vision was hazy as Connar walked to the stairs but collapsed halfway there. Connar's accessory picked him up and carried him back to his cell.

...

In a transport Alice, Beatrice, Carlos, and Natalie all rode too their next task.

Alice periodically glanced at Carlos. The only male tried to waved to her. "Really! Do you have to stare? I know I'm a sight for sore eyes, but it's enough to make a man blush!" Alice looked to the ground with a red face. Carlos laughed but then saw Natalie and Leon glaring at him and stopped.

Carlos turns to Beatrice. "Seriously though, what's Natalia's problem? We're supposed to be heading out together on a nice friendly joint operation with my very own home con! Let's just relax and enjoy it, shall we?"

"Well, it would be nice to see where you came from." Pointed Alice.

Carlos laughed. "Don't expect much. See one con you've seen them all."

Natalie stomped on the deck. "Cease your infernal witterings, will you? Focus on the operation at hand!"

Carlos sighed. "Oh, lighten up! All this tension is really dampening the spirit of brotherly cooperation, you know. Can't we just get along?" He looks to Alice. "Have a word in her ear and see if you can't make her lighten up a bit, will you?"

"Well, he does have a point miss Woo." Said Alice.

Natalie sighed. "We may be on friendly terms with the panopticon that insolent worm calls home." She glared at Carlos for moment. "But I refuse to be on friendly terms with the idiot himself."

The transport stopped, letting out everyone into the geofront. There the team spotted an artillery abductor with shield generators on its sides. The machine was being escorted by a pair of sinners wielding concrete hammers and accessories on the cat walks with grenade launchers.

The accessories fired and the group rushed out of the way. Carlos leaped at Alice to shield her from the blast, Leon pulled Beatrice into an outcove to hide form the blast as well.

Natalie and her accessory dove behind some rubble, after the two grenades. After the explosion the two used their snipers to shoot down the enemy accessories. Dropping the machines fell off the cat walks.

Carlos got off of Alice and helped her up. "You okay?"

"Thank you..."

"Look out!" Shouted Leon.

Alice and Carlos saw the hammer wielding sinners coming at them. The pair drew their spears and charged to met them head on.

The first sinner raised his hammer and Alice ran and stabbed them with her spear then swung to tare them in half. The second sinner golf swung she hammer, Carlos backed away and threw his spear and pierced through the sinner.

Leon ran to the fallen robots and took one of the grenade launchers. "Beatrice! Try to drag that abductor down, then I'll blast its shields off!"

"Yes!"

The turret on top of the abductor started spinning, when it built up enough speed the turret fired bombs all around it and ran in circles.

"Why does it do that?" Asked Alice.

"It's clearing the area around, basic survival tactic." Answered Leon.

Natalie used her thorn to get the second grenade launcher. "Everyone drag it down!"

Alice, Carlos, and Beatrice threw their thorns at the abductors right leg and quickly pulled it down almost instantly. Natalie and Leon fired grenades at the abductor's side and destroyed its left generator.

The abductor stood up as Natalie and Leon reloaded. "Do it again!" She shouted. "This time drag the left leg!"

The sinners did as the officer said and pulled the abductor down again. The grenaders fired at the abductors other generator and destroyed it.

Everyone drew their guns and opened fire, aiming at the will'o pod. Leon used his last grenade and broke the will'o pod. A citizen fell out of the abductor and Beatrice ran to catch them.

As Beatrice ran back to the RRU another abductor showed up, this time an all purpose biped with laser cannons on its arms.

Natalie used her thorn to get to the pipes above. Once she was above the officer shot the machine in the head.

Alice and Carlos used their thorns as well to climb up to the catwalks. They took aim and fired at the abductor, aiming for the laser guns.

As the only one on the ground Leon was targeted of the abductor. The accessory to cover behind the artillery abductor, the biped fired its lasers at the downed abductor and tore through some of its armor.

The lasers overheated and the abductor stopped. Leon came out from behind the machine and threw a sticky grenade at one of the weapons. The abductor's left laser cannon was greatly weakened by Alice's and Carlos' gunfire, when the grenade exploded the laser weapon was blow apart.

In the confusion Natalie dropped down on the abductor's right shoulder and started cutting into it with her sword.

The abductor jumped and Natalie leaped off and grappled to a wall. Alice switched to her spear and threw it, impaling the will'o pod. Carlos fallowed Alice and did the same, throwing his spear into the will'o pod.

The abductor's chest broke open and the will'o lines started bursting open. The robot fell to its knees then on its side in a burning wreak.

"All targets have been terminated." Said Leon. "The citizen is safe, we may return to the panopticon."

Carlos pats Alice on the back. "You did pretty good out there little girl."

"Thanks!" Alice had a wide smile, she took Carlos hand in her and walked with him down the catwalk.

Natalie watched this happen and was getting mad. _"Alice... What are you thinking, being near that snake?"_

_..._


	35. For friends

Chapter. 36

The transport returned to the panopticon, Beatrice was the first to climb out with Natalie right behind her. Carlos stepped out and offered a hand to Alice.

"Thanks." Alice took his hand and walked out.

"Alice!" Shouted Natalie.

Alice pulled her hand away from Carlos. "Yes Miss Woo?"

"I have some matters to speak to you about. Everyone else is dismissed."

"See you later." Carlos waves to Alice. Alice smiles and waves back.

Once the others were gone Natalie sighed. "What do you think you're doing Alice?"

"What?"

"Don't what me. Carlos. I don't want you anywhere near that snake."

"He's not a snake Natey! He's really nice, sure he jokes around a lot but that's just to break the tension."

"I don't care. Stay away from him."

Alice crossed her arms. "Why don't you like him? Carlos hasn't done anything wrong!" The girl walked away in a huff.

Natalie was about to fallow when Leon put its hand on her shoulder. "It's okay, Carlos seems to show a different side to Alice then to everyone else. But I will keep a eye on him, Carlos won't lay a finger on Alice."

"Thank you Leon."

"Of course milady." Leon chased after the girl.

Alice rode the elevator to the warren, once there Beatrice waved her over. "Hello Alice, Julien wants to see us."

"Okay, lead the way."

The two girls headed over to zakka. Inside they found the citizen waiting for them. "Ah, there you are."

"Hi Julien, what's up?"

"Well, I've been doing some more digging into why Beatrice was being held. I wanted to give you an update."

"Okay, what is it?"

Julien shook his head. "The news is that... there is no news."

"What?" Asked Beatrice.

"I literally can't find a single piece of data anywhere that might tell me what their intentions were." Julien turned to Beatrice. "Nothing about why they were holding you... Nothing about what they were trying to find out. In fact, there isn't a single record that attests to you ever having been held captive."

Alice brought her hand to her chin. "Well, the proof must be somewhere. Hey Beatrice can you remember anything?"

Beatrice sighed. "I'm afraid I really have no idea at all."

Julien nods. "Okay, understood. I suppose I'll just have to keep plugging away."

"I am sorry to be such a burden." Beatrice makes a small bow.

"It's fine, honestly. Don't be too disheartened, at least your cover hasn't been blown. Oh, I almost forgot. This might cheer you up." Julien gave Beatrice a will'o engine.

"Oh my! It's simply adorable! This is an exceedingly rare component!"

"Heh. I'm impressed you even recognize it." Julien laughed.

"B-but of course I do!" Beatrice was bewitched by the item she held.

Alice put her hands on her hips, smiling. "Here we go."

"Where did you? So few were made,and so many lost! To hold such a treasure in my hands is... I... I hardly know how to thank you!"

"I'd say she likes it Julien." Alice chuckled.

"Oh, it's nothing really I just heard you liked that sort of thing, so... heh."

"How much of this stuff do you do know B?"

Beatrice thought for a moment. "Ever since my father first introduced me to will'o and abductors. I have been investigating and researching and... dreaming!" Beatrice puts her hands together and looks up giggling. "I love abductors so, so much! They are just so very... beautiful." She turns to Alice. "Don't you agree?"

"Yeah?" Alice took a step back. _"Connar might be right about her having a machine fetish." _

"So it isn't just me..." Said Julien. "I've been tinkering with machines for as long as I can remember, and I can still happily lose hours getting elbow deep in engine oil."

"And what does your wife think about it?"

"My wife is forever bending my ear about my little obsession. Yikes! Speaking of which, I need to head home before she makes me sleep on the floor again!" Julien took off running. "See you later, okay? Bye for now!"

Beatrice was upset Julien left. "I do so wish we could have spoken for a little longer."

"Next time B." Alice patted Beatrice's head. "It'll all be okay."

"Hey." Beatrice pulled her hands up to her head.

"What? Sorry about that."

"No I just, remembered that my cousin use to do that."

"You have a cousin?" Alice tilted her head.

"Yes! He had brown hair... and that's all I remember. Sorry the last time I saw him was fourteen years ago. In On High."

"You'll see him again. I know it."

"Thank you Alice." Beatrice gave Alice a hug, Alice gently returned it.

...

In the facility sector Elfriede, Uwe, Carlos, and Connar gathered in the afternoon.

Carlos got a look at Elfriede and laughed. "So, my little Elfy, have you grown a spine since last time we were out on manoeuvres together?"

Connar pointed his chainsaw at Carlos. "Show some respect you worm. Don't you ever call her Elfy."

"Worm, huh? When did you start taking lessons for Natalie?"

"You're walking a VERY thin line. I am nothing like that lap dog."

"Oh really?" Carlos had a dark grin. "You're anger all the time, like Natalie. You attack anyone that you don't like, like Natalie. And you called me a worm, like Natalie. Face it, you're just like Natalie."

"FUCK YOU!" Connar threw his sword, Carlos dodged and the weapon flew across the empty lot. Connar took a deep breath and looked at the ground. "That cut deep, well played."

"HAHAHA, this is too good. Hey Elfriede you mind if I tell you old friend about our first op together? And how you were so scared you-"

Elfriede stomped the ground. "Grrrrragh! You shut you stupid mouth right now, or I'll tear your head off and... and..."

"I'll break your ribs in one strike and crush your heart!" Finished Connar.

Carlos was laughing at the two sinners. "My, aren't you the power couple. Heh heh heh."

"You're a real piece of work, Carlos." Said Uwe. "Give the kids a break."

"How sweet, Daddy sticking up for his little girl!"

Connar grabbed Carlos by the throat. "Care to lose your tongue snake?" Connar extended his hidden blade, made from a flare knife. "This thing can cut abductors, don't think I won't kill you."

"Connar let him go. The enemy is almost here." Said Uwe.

"And? I'll kill anyo**ne in my way**." Connar's glowed blue again.

"What are you?" Carlos was now afraid for his life.

"Here they come!" Shouted Elfriede.

Connar dropped Carlos and turned to the enemy, letting the other two see the change.

The charge the sinner, consisting of four sinners armed with chainsaw swords and four abductor pods.

Connar dashed towards the enemy. The first sinner side swung his weapon, Connar blocked with his thorn and stabbed the sinner in the neck then took the weapon. **"Come on! Dracula's hungry."**

The next sinner raised her chainsaw and stroke down. Connar blocked with his sword and stabbed her in the heart.

The sinners switched to their guns and fired, Connar just punched the ground and made a thorn wall. While the sinners reloaded Connar stood up and threw his sword at one of the sinners, cutting their head off.

The last sinner turned and ran for it. Connar grabbed another chainsaw and threw, impaling it in the sinner's back.

"What the hell just happened to Connar?!" Asked Uwe.

A biped abductor with wrist mounted mini guns and it's will'o veins were red instead of orange.

Elfriede put on her brass knuckles. "I don't know, but if it can help us, let him go nuts."

Carlos drew his spear and fallowed. _"Things got a little more fun."_

! #$%^&amp;*()_+}"?:{

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	36. Hidden power

Chapter. 37

The abductor aimed and primed its miniguns to fire. Connar grabbled to the machine's arm and started cutting off the weapon mounted on the right arm.

Uwe drew his his rocket launcher, he and his accessory fired at the abductor's chest. Elfriede revved up her minigun and unleashed a hale of bullets on the robot's will'o pod.

Connar cut off the abductor's minigun, the thief leaped off and grabbed the minigun by the barrel. **"Take a knee!"** Connar swung the gun into the machine's leg and knocked it down, then slammed the gun into the will'o pod, breaking it open.

The thief repeatedly stroked the abductor, with each hit red will'o spilled out on Connar. Covering him in a red aura. At the same time another abductor arrived, this time its will'o veins were pale blue.

"Careful everyone, we have an ice resistant one coming in." Shouted Uwe.

Connar dropped the minigun and ran towards the next abductor, picking up two chainsaws on the way. The red will'o flowed onto the weapons and let them ablaze. Connar held his swords in a reverse grip and jumped at the abductor's chest.

As this happened Uwe shot a rocket at one of the abductor pods and destroyed it. His accessory did the same to another pod and took it down.

Elfried fired at the third abductor pod, tearing it to machine shot at her, Elfriede dodged the laser and threw her thorn at it to draw it closer and punched the machine.

The last one shot a laser at Carlos. The sinner moved out of the way the threw his spear at it, the weapon pieced the machine's 'eye' and short circuited it.

The thief plunged his chainsaws into the will'o pod and stated cutting it open. The abductor reached down to grab Connar but the sinner pulled out one of his swords and stabbed the machine's hand.

The abductor pulled its hand back and Connar went back to cutting the machine's will'o pod open. The pod burst open and the machine fell on its knees. The thief went inside and slashed at the walls of the will'o pod. Pale blue will'o rained on Connar.

The abductor stood and closed its will'o pod, will'o filled the pod but leaked out the cuts Connar made inside. The machine ran out of will'o and shut down, it crashed to the ground and Connar cut open the robots back and climbed out.

When Connar got out of the abductor his aura became a swirl of red and blue.

Elfriede approached Connar slowly, with her father right behind with his rocket launcher at the ready. Carlos stayed away, wanting to see what happened from a safe place.

"Connar?" Asked Elfriede.

The thief looked at her, his eyes flared with pure will'o. **"This... This is power... Need, want more... I want more!"** Connar threw his thorn at Elfriede's accessory and drained it of will'o.

The accessory fell down and Connar's aura spiked. **"More! I need more!"**

"Connar! You need to stop this!" Shouted Elfriede.

Just then another abductor showed up, this time a normal biped type. The robot ran towards Connar while the sinner just walked towards it, swaying back and forth.

The abductor raised its hands up and swiftly brought them down. Connar just held his swords up and stopped the robots fists, stabbing them in the process. The abductor pulled its arms back and Connar pulled his swords back and tore the machine's hands off.

The machine stepped back and pointed its guns at Connar.

"Look out!" Uwe made a thorn wall to save Connar. "What are you doing?! Huh?" Uwe felt the will'o flowing off of Connar and empowering Uwe. Elfriede got close to Connar as well and felt the will'o as well.

**"Go! Destory it!"**

Uwe and Elfriede both attacked the abductor with their fists, punching its legs. The will'o strengthened the father and daughter, with a single punch from them the abductor's legs were blown away. The robot's body crashed into the ground.

"What is this?" Asked Elfriede.

Uwe threw a small punch and could see the will'o trail it made. "We'll find out in a moment. Right now let's break this abductor."

"Right!" The two punched the abductor in its will'o pod, the will'o flowed through the machine and overloaded it, causing the whole robot to self destruct.

Uwe and Elfriede blown back but the will'o aura softened their landing.

"What the hell was that!?" Uwe got up and shouted at Connar.

the aura around Connar faded and so did the one around Elfriede and Uwe. Connar's eyes returned to normal and passed out.

Elfriede caught Connar before he hit the pavement. "Connar? Come on Connar, stop doing this!"

The thief was regaining consciousness and Elfriede laid him down gently. Connar sat up with Elfriede's help and rubbed his forehead. "Okay, who knocked me out? Uwe I'm looking at you."

Carlos walked towards the three, clapping. "Heh heh heh, hahahahaha! That was a show, how did you do that Connar?"

"Do what? Stop playing the pronoun game and tell me!"

"You tell me. The glowing eyes, the monster strength, the will'o aura you gave to them that made their fists into bombs. You're hiding something, conscious or not. Heh heh heh."

"Come here and say..." Connar tried to get up but he didn't have energy and fell back down. "Damn it! What happened? What happened here?" The thief scanned the area, seeing the three broken abductors. "Did I miss the party?"

"You WERE the party." Said Uwe, folding his arms. "Somehow you channeled will'o."

"What?! AH!" Connar held his head. "Why is my head hurting? What hit me?"

Elfriede saw Connar's eyes glowing again. "Connar you need to calm down, we'll go back to the con and you can rest."

"Why can't I remember the past few minutes?" The glowing was getting brighter. **"What happened?"**

"You were knocked out by one of the enemy sinners. They hit you with a hammer, that's your head hurts."

"Really?" The glow was fading quietly.

Uwe gave a death glare to Carlos, who was failing to hold back his snickers. "Let's get out of here before more show up." Uwe helped Connar on his feet and helped him back to the transport.

...

"Everyone okay?" Asked Uwe when they returned to their con.

Connar was still dizzy from the operation. Elfriede let Connar go so he could stand on his own. "I think so."

"Good to hear sinner. Keep up the good work."

"You okay Elfy?"

The girl nods. "Why wouldn't I be? You did most of the heavy lifting."

Uwe turns to his daughter. "You did good out there, both of you." Elfriede giggled, glad to have her fathers approval. "But I can still see you pulling punches when you lose focus. You need to work on that, okay?"

"But dad! I-I was concerned about Connar!"

Carlos laughs at the whole event. "Well I'm fine, thanks for asking. Could have done without Elfriede crying for her daddy though. Gave me a damn headache."

Connar drew his chainsaw. "I can take care of that." Connar brought up his hand to his face, his head was still hurting.

"Knock it off, both of you!" Uwe walked away and his daughter fallowed. Elfriede turned back to Connar as she left, still worried about her friend. When they got to the top of the stair Elfriede stopped to watch what happens.

"There goes a healthy family unit if ever I saw one. Heh." laughed Carlos. "You should have seen how nervous the old fool was when Elfriede first hit the battlefield."

"What father wouldn't be worried about their own daughter taking bullets." Pointed Connar.

"Yeah, the little so and so wasn't going to take no for an answer. Said she wanted to be there for her old man. Ugh... I'm sure he's happy she can look after herself now, but you can see it stresses him out to no end watching her head out on operations." Carlos then shrugged. "Anyway, time to hit the way." Carlos left.

Alone Connar walked to his cell once inside he crashed on the bed. Falling asleep instantly.

Elfriede was outside Connar's cell, jumping to see him sleeping. _"What happened to you Connar?"_

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	37. Secrets to come

Chapter. 38

The fallowing day Connar woke up, the thief rubbed his and got up. "Warning! mental sta-"

Connar stabbed his accessory in the neck and shoved it aside. Outside of his cell he saw Ann and Beatrice walking towards Hal. Connar leaned on the railing to see what happens.

"Sorry about my little sis here. I just don't know what's got into her lately." Hal glanced at his sister.

Beatrice shook her head. "Please, it was no trouble."

"I-I"m so sorry!" Ann bowed to Beatrice.

As this went on Connar noticed Alice was saw them too and went to join the group. "What's up everyone!"

"Oh, hello." Greeted Hal. "Well, it's Ann, you see..."

"Please... Hal..." Pleaded Ann.

"She managed to get herself lost wandering around on citizen's promenade. Beatrice brought her back." Explained Hal.

"I-I wasn't lost! Tell him, Beatrice! I wasn't lost, was I?"

"Erm... well, umm..." Beatrice was at a loss for words.

"I wasn't! Honestly!"

Alice smiled lightly to Ann. "Why don't I believe that?"

"Look, whatever happened, you ended up making a nice new friend. That's a real development." Hal turned back to Alice. "I was worried she'd never manage to stand on her own two feet, always following me around like she-"

Ann stomped on Hal's foot. "Hey! Why don't we talk about this later, hm?"

"The main thing is that everything is alright now." Pointed Beatrice.

"Thank you so much! It was so fun just hanging out and chatting!"

Beatrice nods with a smile. "Hm! I rather enjoyed myself too!"

"Hey, what's the special occasion? Someone forget to sent me an invite?" Elfriede approached the group to join in.

_"This should be fun."_ Connar watch Elfriede walk. _"Struten in like you own the place, you haven't changed at all Elfy."_

"Hello Elfriede!" Greeted Beatrice.

"Oh!" Alice clapped her hands together. "Elfriede, this is Hal and Ann."

Hal stepped back. "Elfriede? Wait, THE Elfriede!? The royal round champion!?"

_"Royal round?" _Thought Connar_._

Elfriede put her hands on her hips. "You know your stuff."

"Sixty three victories in a row, wasn't it? No one else has ever come close! I just never thought you'd turn out to be a little kid-" Elfriede punched Hal chest. "Arrgh!" Hal fell to his knees, holding his stomach.

"That's for judging a book by it's cover!"

Connar was covering his mouth. _"Damn girl, no mercy."_

Ann gave a quick bow to Elfriede. "Please to meet you. My name is Ann. you've... er... met my brother, Hal. I'm sorry for what he said. He just can't help himself sometimes."

"Don't worry about it. He's not the first person to get the wrong idea about me."

Ann spins back to Beatrice. "So you and Elfriede are friends, Beatrice? You're so popular."

"Still, Elfriede you did have to hit Hal." Said Alice. "With a record like yours, how would anyone think you're, well, you?"

Elfriede scoffed. "If you and your friends ever want to compete at my level, you're going to need to do some serious training."

Alice shook her head. _"Just like Connar, always too serious."_

"Anyway, I've got business to attend to. See you around, sinners." Elfriede walked away.

Hal let out a gasp of air. "So that was... The punch that knocked out sixty three challengers... Hurgh."

"Umm..." Beatrice thought for a second, needing to change the subject. "Oh, I almost forgot! Julien wishes to speak to us about something."

"Then let's go!" Alice and Beatrice took off for the elevator.

"Time to ask Elfy some questions." Connar leaped down for the railing and followed Elfriede.

...

Down in Zakka Alice and Beatrice found Julien. "hey J, How's your day?" Asked Alice.

"Good, you're here. I found out something that could be of interest."

"Well, don't keep us waiting."

"Well, as I'm sure you know, everything you sinners do is recorded, and the data is transmitted to the authorities."

"Okay, that could be useful."

"Now, older data which is deemed to be of little immediate interest is stored in a restricted sector on level four of the cell garden. In other words, that sector contains a whole wealth of information about sinners from times past."

"But how will this all help?" Alice was a little lost.

"Well, do you remember how we registered Beatrice as a sinner?"

"Yes."

"It occurred to me that perhaps someone had done something similar in the past . Like when certain other sinners appeared out of nowhere , for example... What I'm saying is that we might be able to uncover something in those records that will lead us to Beatrice's father."

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!"

Beatrice nods. "Yes, we must! We absolutely must!"

Julien hands a card key to Alice. "Okay, here's the passcode you'll need. See what you can find, just keep your wits about you. it's a restricted area, after all."

Alice was having second thoughts. "Ah, maybe we should think about this."

"What, why?! We now know where to go!"

"But if we get caught our years will go up, Maybe we should get Connar to help us."

"...Okay." Beatrice was hesitate but could see the logic in the idea. The two left zakka to find their thief.

...

"Hey! Elfy!" Connar caught up with his friend. "Hey, I wanted to ask-" He slid to the right, evading Elfriede's punch.

"Didn't ever learn that spying is bad?"

"Ha, Still perceptive. Like I said, I want to know about the royal round. What's that?"

"You there!" Some officers with accessories approached the two sinners. "Connar 'Dracula' Vaniah. You're to come with us now."

"I don't think so." Connar reached for his weapon and the accessories put out their hands to bind the two sinners.

"Beginning observation." Said the accessories.

The officers turned to the machines. "What do you mean?" They heard a loud snap and one of the officers coughed up blood.

Connar was free and his eyes were glowing. Another officer reached for their weapon, Connar grabbed the officer's wrist and slit their throat with his hidden blade. The thief let go of the dead officer and stroke the third officer with his elbow.

As the officer fell back, Connar stabbed his blade into their neck and then threw them to the ground. The accessories put up their hands up to bind Connar again.

**"You can't hold me."** Connar broke free once more, he thrusted his blades into the foreheads of two accessories and shoved them into the last accessory. The two broken robots fell and Connar grabbed the last accessory's head and ripped it off. **"Ahhh! None of you can stop me!"**

"Connar! Please calm down!" Shouted Elfriede.

Connar retracted his blades and turned to his friend. He walked towards her and grabbed the light ring binding her and ripped it off. The sinner kneeled down and brought a hand to his head. "Elfy?" The glow in his eyes faded away. "What was that? What's happening to me?!"

"Connar..." Elfriede placed her hand on his shoulder. "Something's inside you, it seems to come out whenever you get anger of when you try to do something you can't normally do."

"What is it? What's in me? What's taking control?!" The glow returned in Connar's eyes.

Elfriede grabbed her firend's arm and leaned closer. "Connar! Calm down, We'll figure this out. You need to trust me, like old times."

Connar slowed his breathing. "Okay, okay. I trust you Elfy." The glow faded again, Connar lost his strength and collapsed.

Elfriede caught Connar and laid him against a nearby wall.

! #$%^&amp;*()_+}"?:{

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	38. The other

Chapter. 39

"That was close." Alice took a long sigh once the three got past the garden accessories. They went through a couple more rooms till they found the server room.

"There it is!" Beatrice point to the terminal in the center. "I Believe this is what we were looking for. Shall we take a look?" Beatrice began typed on the terminal.

"Find anything?" Asked Alice.

"There are no records under that name..." Beatrice hits a few more keys. "Hmm... Perhaps there is nothing here, after all."

"Or, you're not looking in the right place." Leon got closer to the terminal. "May I?" Beatrice stepped aside. The accessory got to work, opening and closing files faster then the eye could track. "There we go, 2,419 matching records. You may continue." Leon backed away so the girls could see.

"Ah, I see! So you searched the data related to transmissions made during operation!" Beatrice read through some the files. "Of course! My father may have been register under a false name, but some of his comrades must have called him by real name!"

"Great! Leon, can you download this data?" Asked Alice.

"Done!" The accessory connected to the terminal and started uploading the data ti his systems.

"Yes! We must give this to Julien to look at!" Beatrice was over joyed with the find they made.

"Wait I want to check something, for myself."

"What is it?"

Alice typed on the terminal. "My parents. Nat-I was never told how they died, I have to know the truth." Alice search for her parents names and found a file. "There, this is it. My mother Rosawyn and my father Matthew. Wait, what is this?"

Beatrice leaned closer. "What?"

"My mother's date of birth isn't here, my father's is but why not her's?"

"Let me see." Leon started typing. "It's not here because you're mother was never born in this Panopticon."

"Then were is she from? Another con?"

"No, if she was it would she where she came from."

"There where... oh God." Alice brought her hands to her mouth.

Leon nods slowly. "Yes, you're mother came from On High."

"How?!"

"Let me read." Leon scrolled back to the top of the file. "Rosawyn was a top class fighter. She was charged with raiding missions until her team betrayed her;details are unknown as for to why. She talked about it, only swearing to find and kill them. Some believed her to be a fallen but was never proven. She ended up in a crossfire with Matthew's recon group and was captured."

"What happened then?"

"Matthew went to see her almost everyday, to the point where he was the only one Rosawyn would talk too. The panopticon added Rosawyn to their list of sinners and was kept on a very short leash. After three years Matthew and Rosawyn started a relationship and married after two years. One year later they had a child, Alice."

"This is wonderful!" Beatrice looked to Alice. "You're the proof that people from On High and the surface can come together in harmony."

"Really?" Alice held her hands over her heart. "I'm the proof... the proof of a better future." Leon ruffled Alice's hair. "Stop it! Please Leon, find how they died."

"Both of your parents were on a scouting mission twelve years ago, near the Arcadia panopticon."

"The great loss!" The girls shouted.

"They killed them. On High killed them, along with all those people." Alice's body was shacking.

"Alice?" Leon leaned closer.

"I'll kill them."

Leon's sensors were going off. "No, it can't be..."

Alice's eyes turned sky blue. "I'll kill them!" The sinner punched the terminal, her fist went through the screen. Alice pulled her arm back as the glow faded. "What was that? What just happened to me?"

Alice fell to her knees and Leon wrapped his arms around her. "Alice... You're a fallen."

"A fallen? Am I... am I gonna become a monster?!" Alice started to panic.

"No. You must have gained this power from you're mother but you're will'o level is lower then Connar's. You won't turn insane, but you must not get angry. Anger seems to be the trigger."

"So there's more then one fallen." Said Beatrice.

Leon nods. "And where there's one more, there could be a hundred more."

"Maybe we should leave now. We'll return to Julien with the data later."

"Agreed." Leon helped Alice stand up and held her arm over her shoulders. "What do you want to do Alice?"

"I don't know." Alice was at her limit and just started crying. "I don't know!"

...

Connar opened his eyes to find himself in another lab, this time Connar was looking over a monitor. **_"_****_Devarja your work will bring about the end of humanity!" _**A voice spoke from an intercom.

_**"I don't want to hear this again L**__**ucius! Just look down at the world, it's ended a long time ago. Now filthy surface dwellers fight over what's left. My research will further the greater good of On High."  
**_

_**"And what about that woman who escaped?"**_

_**"And? I have plenty more to**** use."** _

Connar's body to see some people in tanks. _"What the hell is this?!" _

**_"Now unless you have something important to tell me, Goodbye."_**

_**"Don't you-"**_ Connar's body turned off the intercom.

His body went to the only empty tank and opened it. _**"I will be the god of this ruined world."**_ Connar stepped inside the tank and closed himself in, letting the tank fill with will'o.

...

"Ahh!" Connar woke up in the warren.

"Connar!" Elfriede sat beside her friend. "You okay?"

"I don't know? What happened?"

"Some officers came for us, you changed again and killed them."

"Wait, I think I remember it this time." Connar tried to stand but his legs gave out. "I need to get back to my cell to rest, I feel dizzy."

"Okay." Elfriede helped Connar up to his feet.

"Thank you Elfy." The two went to the elevator to get back to code level four. Once there they get to Connar's cell and opened the door.

"You better rest and get better, okay?"

"I will." The door closed between them. Connar waited a minute before looking out his door window to see Elfriede walking away. When she was Connar stood in the center of his cell. "Aries! ARIES! Where are you Aries?!" Connar punched his monitor wall. "Where the hell are you Aries?!"

Connar sat down on his bed, his hands on the sides of his head. "This was so much easier when it was just about getting my sentence down." The thief laid on his bed to try and sleep.

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	39. What we want

Chapter. 40

As soon as she got out of the cell garden Alice ran away from her friends. Alice ran to the warren and down to a lower level. Now alone Alice broke down and cried. _"I'm a monster."_ The girl just wanted to disappear at the thought.

Thirty minutes later Alice heard footsteps. "Alice?" Asked Natalie.

"How did you find me?" Alice's voice was shaky as she wiped away her tears. She turned to see Leon there too.

"Alice, Leon told me you were in trouble. What happened?"

Alice hung her head at the question. "I'm a fallen..."

"What?"

"I'm a fallen!"

Natalie quickly threw her arms around Alice. "Leon is this true?!"

"Yes. We were in the server room in the code four cell garden, learning about her family we discovered Alice's mother was from On High. She's even a fallen."

"I'm a monster." Alice cried into Natalie's coat.

The officer held Alice tightly, creasing her back. "You're not a monster, you're still Alice."

Alice shoved Natalie away. "You don't know that! Connar's a fallen and he's evil. What if the same thing is going to happen to me?!" Alice's eyes started glowing blue.

"Alice!" Shouted Leon.

Alice punched a pillar and destroyed it. She backed away from the pillar ruins and looked at her hands.

"I have a report!" Alice and Natalie look to Leon. "Alice's will'o levels are spiking, but she has maintained control. As when Connar's will'o spikes he loses himself. As where both powers seem to be started by anger, you Alice still hold your sense of self."

Alice started to calm down. "So, I'm not a monster."

Natalie stepped closer to Alice, picking up her hand and held it. "Your mom was a great woman and one of the few I'd call a close friend. Your dad was great too, he was my mentor back when I was a sinner. Taught me how to fight."

Natalie patted Alice's head. "I promised your parents that if anything happened to them I'd look after you."

Alice put her arms around Natalie's sides. "Thank you. I love you Natey."

Natalie returned to hug. "I love you too."

Alice's body gave off a will'o aura. The two separated again. Leon ran a scan of Alice's mental status. "Interesting."

"What is this?!" The humans shouted.

"Alice's will'o is stabling out. So anger starts it, serenity stabilizes it." Leon held Alice's hand. "Take a deep breath." Alice did so and the will'o aura faded.

"You fixed it. Thank you Leon." Said Natalie.

"Next, think of something that makes you anger."

"Okay." Alice closed her eyes, she thought about the true of how her parents died. About On High and how they just take for the people who fight and die for what little they have, and how she had a tie to those parasites. Alice opened her eyes, with the will'o glow returned.

Leon kept a tap on Alice's mental level. "Now think of something that gives you peace."

Alice thought about Natalie, Carlos, Mattias, all of her friends. Her body was once again clocked in will'o.

Natalie was at a lost. "What is this?"

Leon let go of Alice's hand. "I think we have just given Alice mastery of being a fallen. Or at least the first step of it."

"What really?" Asked Alice.

"Yes. Back in the server room your will'o level wasn't as strong as Connar's. Now you have more then him, if not equal."

Sirens blared all around the warrens.

"Natey, what's happening?!"

Natalie looked at her tablet. "We're under attack!"

"Another retribution?"

"No, just another panopticon. You and Leon get ready, you know where to meet me." Alice and Leon took off in a dead run. "Alice!" The sinner stopped. "Don't use your fallen abilities, we don't know their full existent."

"Okay!" Alice left to the elevator while Natalie went to find more sinners.

...

That afternoon Connar went out into the warren for some air when he saw Beatrice running to zakka. "What's up with her?" Bored Connar decided to chase after her.

Inside zakka Connar found Beatrice handing some data to Julien.

"Ah, so you found some data on you're father." The citizen put the data in his tablet and read it. "That was good thinking! It makes perfect sense that he would be registered under a false name. I'm sorry, Beatrice. I really should have thought of that."

"What's going on here?" Asked Connar.

Beatrice gulped as she tried to remain calm. "I'm looking for my father."

"Still?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Wouldn't you look for your father if he went missing?"

"No. If he left I say good riddance. And if I did see him again it'd be with a knife to his neck." Connar folded his arms. "I told you, a man who leaves behind his family is scum."

"Here!" Shouted Julein. "Well, the records of this person they're calling 'Cesare' in battle transcripts just stop after a certain point. But there's no record of him having passed away. And here's the interesting thing, it's always the same sinner who's recorded calling him 'Cesare'."

"So, this mystery sinner went with Cesare on every mission?"

"Yes it looks that way. There's another thing, more than half the operations this pair were sighed up for were issued by the very same citizen."

"Something's not right, who is this citizen and the sinner with Cesare?"

"The sinner is Remigio Chiarugi. There's no record of him having lost his life, so we can assume he's still around somewhere."

"Okay." Connar raised his hand to his chin to think. "And who's the citizen?"

"Kasumi Sato #d. She's registered as a sinner now, not citizen. That's really rather unusual."

"When can we find her?" Asked Beatrice.

"Let me see, She's a code six sinner, and I can confirm that she's still sighing up for operations."

"So she's out of our reach." Beatrice sighed.

Conner ruffled Beatrice's hair. "It's only two codes up, you'll get there someday. Till then just keep your head down."

"Thank you Connar." Beatrice giggled a little. "You really are a nice person."

"Don't get used to it."

Julien took a silent photo with his tablet and put it away. "I'd imagine that this Kasumi was calling the shots and the two sinners were following orders." Beatrice was giving Julien a concerned look. "Erm... That's just a guess, you understand. It's not remotely based on my relationship with my wife."

"I don't fallow." Said Connar.

"It's just, you know, sometimes you forget to ask why. You're given orders, and you just follow them. 'buy that!' 'Change this!' I'm sorry. Perhaps I've said too much."

Connar pinched his nose. "Okay you need to stand up to you're woman. Obeying without question is the life of a slave."

"This citizen."

"What's up B?"

"What kind of... relationship did she have with my father?"

Julien answers. "Well, I suppose they worked very closely together... I'm sure they must have been very fond of one anoth-!" Julien stops himself. "Oh! I mean..."

Beatrice stormed out of the store.

"Dumbass." Connar ran after her.

...

Outside sirens blared and Percy was on all the screens. "Oh no! Terrible news!"

"What now?" Mumbled Connar.

"A rival panopticon is attacking our lovely home! Come on sinners! It's time to show how much you love your panopticon! It's time to give your all for joy and prosperity!"

"Which is none at all..."

"Let's join together and fight as one big, happy family!" Connar gagged at that last bit. "Protect your home! And slay our enemies! For the greater good!"

Natalie ran to zakka and spotted Connar, she thought about leaving him to find someone else but time wasn't on her side. "We're under attack by Lemurian forces!" She shouted, running down the stairs. "You're coming with me to fight them off."

"The hell I am!" Connar extended his blades.

"You don't come with me, I'll raise you're years by ten thousand!"

"Do it! That's all you can do lap dog, all talk."

Natalie gritted her teeth and thought up another way to get him to move. "The good news is that this operation will count as your code five exam. You'll be on the same level as Alice, and Elfriede."

"What?!" Connar retracted his blades. "Where is it?!"

"We're heading for the desert. Let's move!" Natalie and Connar ran for the warren elevator.

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	40. Power hungry

Chapter. 41

The transport drove over the desert sand. Inside Alice, Natalie, Beatrice, and Connar waited to reach their next battle.

Beatrice sat beside Connar, across the way from the other two women. "I am desperate to know what happened to my father, of course, but right now we need to focus on the operation." Beatrice looks around the transport. "It seems that Mattias is fighting on another front. We must do our best without him!"

Connar waved her off. "Tch, we don't need him. If anything he'd just get in my way."

The transport stopped and Natalie stood up. "We're here. Move out, sinner!"

The group moved out, immediately eight sinners and an ice biped abductor were coming in fast.

"Here they come! Hold your ground!" Natalie drew her sniper rifle, the other sinners and accessories took out their guns as well.

Connar drew his chainsaw and rushed to meet the enemy head on. "Connar! You get back here!"

Connar ignored Natalie, and kept running. "Forget him!" Shouted Leon. "If he wants to die that badly let him."

Two of the enemy sinners dashed towards Connar. Natalie and her accessory sniped them, letting the sinner keep running.

Alice and Leon shot and killed two more sinners running at them, Beatrice and her accessory did the same. With only a pair of sinners left the enemy started a retrat but were shot in the head by Natalie and her accessory.

Connar ran for the abductor and leaped onto it's will'o pod. He held his weapon in a reverse grip and plunged it into the pod. The abductor reached down to grab him, Connar extended his wrist blade and stabbed the pod then pulled out his chainsaw to stab the robot's hand.

The will'o pod broke and Connar fell inside as the abductor went down on it's knees.

"It's down, open fire!" Shouted Natalie. Everyone took aim and fired on the abductor, trying to take out the head.

Connar ran his sword through the abductor's back and began cutting sideways. The pod closed and started to fill with will'o. Connar used his wrist blade to cut another opening, as the cuts grew bigger the will'o was spilling out faster then it could fill the pod.

The abductor ran out of will'o and fell on it's side, Connar broke out through the hope he made and climbed out.

"Is Connar okay?" Asked Beatrice.

Leon got a reading of another abductor coming their way. "No time to check, we got incoming."

A quadruped artillery abductor ran onto the battle field.

Natalie took aim but her rifle was empty. "I'm reloading!"

Alice noticed her weapon was empty as well. "I think we all need too!"

"Incoming!" Shouted Beatrice.

As the abductor ran for the group Connar grappled to the top of the machine, clocked in a cold aura. The top of the abductor froze as Connar's feet landed on it. The gun on the abductor began to rotate, Connar grabbed the gun and pulled until he ripped it off then slammed it down.

The abductor stopped and started running in circles, Connar held up the gun and thrusted the point of the gun into the will'o pod, breaking it open and stunning the machine.

Now opened Connar jumped into the will'o pod.

"What is he doing?" Asked Natalie.

The will'o veins turned from orange to blue and ice grew all over the abductor. Connar broke through the bottom of the Abductor as it fell into the sand. Connar was on his hands and knees with will'o dripping on him from the abductor.

The other ran to the sinner when Leon stopped them. "Incoming abductor, fro the right side!"

Alice held her assault rifle at the ready. "Now what?" Another biped abductor arrived, this time it's will'o veins were purple, with shoulder mounted missile launchers and wrist mounted laser guns.

"Careful, that one's shock resistant." Said Leon.

The abductor opened fire with everything it had. Everyone ran for it as the lasers came for them, when they got to close the group dove to the sides and out of the laser's path. The missiles came for each of them and they ran again, this time the missile caught to them and hit the ground near them. The explosion threw everyone into the sand.

Alice pushed herself and charged her green thorn. "Beatrice! Charge your thorn and get to me! Everyone get to me!" The other struggled to stand up. Alice and Beatrice placed their hands in the sand and two green thorn thickets. Everyone regrouped around the plants as the light healed them.

The abductor aimed and charged it's laser guns. "Everyone get down!"

As the lasers launched Connar slid in front of them and punched the ground, creating a white thorn wall.

"Connar?" Beatrice was shocked to see him actually protecting someone.

The two thorn thickets started to die as a green aura coated Connar as well as a blue and orange. Once the lasers stopped Connar leaped over the wall and charged head on. The abductor fired it's lasers again, Connar threw his thorn at the abductor's head and flew over the beams.

On the head Connar grabbed some will'o veins and ripped them off. Purple will'o sprayed on him, mixing with the multiple colors already clocking him. The thief used his hidden blade and cut open more veins, will'o rained out of the abductor's neck.

The machine's movements slowed until it completely stopped and fell into the desert sand like the one's before it.

The sinner landed in the sand on one knee.

Everyone had their guns at the ready as the slowing approached him.

When they got close enough Connar looked up with pale blue flames covering his eyes. The thief stood up and stabbed Natalie in the chest with his hidden blade. **"You have no idea how long I've waited to do that."** Connar twisted his blade and shoved the officer into the sand. **"Now you die, lap dog."**

Alice watched as Connar attacked her friend, Alice let out a battle cry and charged. Will'o flaring up inside her.

Connar turned to Alice and drew his chainsaw to block her spear. The sinner got a good look at Alice's will'o colored eyes. **"What do we have here?"**

"Shut up!" Alice pushed Connar back with each swing of her spear, when the two were away Beatrice rushed to Natalie to heal her wounds.

Connar sidestepped Alice's thrust then swung his sword to behead her, Alice backed away to dodged but the four will'o colors fallowed and pushed her further back.

**"Looking for a rematch?"**

Alice used her spear to stand, her body felt cold and numb from the will'o. "I'm not going to stand aside while you butcher people!"

Connar just sighed. **"You're not gonna win Alice, you don't have the killer instinct."**

Alice tightened her grip. "I'm a fallen, just like you. The difference is that I"m not gonna use my powers to hurt people. Someone needs to take you down a peg."

**"That's cute. Look around you, the world is broken, you either take or get taken. So what if I kill a few citizens, it's not like they can't be replaced."**

"So that's your plan? Hurt everyone before they hurt you?! You're a monster, you really are the second Abel!"

Connar shook his head. **"Do you think your con cares if you live of not? Wake up little girl, we're all tools to the cons to be used then thrown away. You think they'll let you live a good life once you're sentence is over. You're still not free, just have something to lord over the sinners below you so they'll be more likely to 'give they're all for the greater good' crap."**

"Unlike you I have friends who care about me."

**"So you willingly bound yourself in chains?"**

"To someone who values friendship, their chains are as light as air."

The fallen sinner pinched his nose. **"Forget it. You're too rooted in your 'greater good' to see the reality. It's what happens when you're raised by an officer."**

Alice gasped at this revaluation. "How did you know?!"

Connar wore a dark grin. "The way you act when she's around." Connar pointed to Natalie. **"Standing by her side, letting her order you around, saying 'yes miss Woo' in public and 'Natey' when you think you're alone. Like a lap dog's lap dog."**

Alice's anger grew, as well as her will'o. She rushed at Connar but felt her body start to go numb again from his will'o aura and backed away. "I don't care what you think of me. Hurting Natey is reason enough to kill you."

Connar started crackling, then full on laugh. **"That's good, very good. Little princess finally grew some fangs, I like that."** Connar and Alice both took a fighting stance. **"Okay, let's dance!"**

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	41. Fallen war

Chapter. 42

Alice dashed to attack, aiming to end the fight before it started, Connar swung his chainsaw blade up to deflect. Alice felt the electricity and had to back away, her body had a light layers of ice on her arms.

**"What's wrong, cold feet?"**

"Not even funny." Alice charged again, this time pushing through the pain. Connar stood his ground and blocked each of Alice's jabs. Alice felt her body going numb from the ice and electricity and backed away, this time Connar wasn't going to let her recovery.

Alice's movements were slowing and the pain was breaking Alice's focus. Alice held up her spear and blocked Connar's swing.

**"Getting desperate are we?"** Connar pressed against Alice's spear. Ice and electricity flowed along the spear, freezing her hands and shocking her arms. Connar shoved and Alice fell into the sand. Connar stomped on Alice stomach, ice started forming along her body and numbed what wasn't being shocked.

Two bullets struke Connar in the chest and knocked him off Alice. Natalie's accessory and Leon with Natalie's sniper rilfe both shot the fallen sinner. Connar looked at the wound as they quickly healed. "Not nice to interfere." The sinner ran towards the accessories. Both took another shot and stopped Connar for a moment, the injuries healed quickly.

Leon shot again, this paying closer attention to the aura around Connar. As the thief healed the orange was fading away. Leon dropped the sniper and drew his assault rifle. "Come on you bastard, I'm right here."

"Big talk for someone going to the scrap pile."

Leon's systems went off about another enemy abductor inbound. "Alice! Another abductor, you should deal with this one!"

"What?! But-" The abductor arrived. A heat resistant biped with wrist mounted laser cannons. _"Got it."_ Alice stood up and held her arm, freezing from Connar's attack. "I can, d-d-d-do this. B-Be b-b-brave." Her movement was slow and her mind had trouble focusing. "Need... warmth..."

The abductor fired it's lasers. Alice dove into the sand to dodge the attack. She felt the heat from the laser and had an idea.

...

Leon opened fire on Connar and riddled him with every bullet in the clip. Connar fell on his knees but the bullet wound healed just as quickly as they were made. Leon reloaded as Connar got back on his feet.

**"You're really determined for a human knock off."**

"Look you're will'o." Connar noticed the orange was gone from his aura. "The orange was just will'o, to be used to fuel the other colors. The green is what's keeping you alive. That's why you stepped in and saved us, you wanted the will'o from the thickets."

Connar let out a loud laugh. **"You act like you're surprised, you knew I'm selfish bastard out for myself. What made you think I would change in an instant?"** Connar rushed after the accessory.

Leon opened fire, this time only slowing Connar down. The green was fading from Connar's aura but Leon was out of ammo. Connar grabbed Leon by the neck and slammed him into the ground repeatedly.

**"You die here bot."**

"I"m a machine, you can't kill me. But I did get rid of your green though." Connar noticed his aura was only blue and purple now. "No more free healing for you."

Connar bared his teeth and slamming Leon even harder into the sand. **"You think you're cleaver?!"** Connar lifted Leon then grabbed his head and tore it off. **"Your master will join you soon."** The thief dropped the accessory's body, letting the wind cover it with sand.

...

Alice charged her thorn to full and made a healing thicket. The abductor used it's laser again, firing on the thicket. Alice laid her back on the thicket and slid down to sit. The laser's heat was warming her body and the thicket was curing her numbness.

The lasers destroyed the thicket and Alice fell backwards as the lasers flew over her. With most of the ice melted Alice could feel her motor skills return. The sinner grappled at the abductor's head and pulled herself to it. "If it worked for him." Alice stabbed her spear into the abductor's neck, stirring her spear as will'o sprayed on her.

The abductor started running, Alice lost her footing and fell. Still hanging on by her spear Alice drew her flare knife and stabbed the abductor. Alice planted her feet on the machine's back and repeatedly stabbed the abductor. With each stab more will'o slashed on Alice, her body was getting hotter as a red aura now coated her.

The abductor jumped and Alice got off the machine as it was in the air. The abductor stomped the ground and Alice grappled to it's back. Alice grabbed her weapons and cut down the abductor's back with her knife, spilling the will'o on herself.

Out of will'o the abductor fell into the ground then Alice got off. She saw Connar rip off Leon's head and drop his body.

"CONNAR!" Alice charged after the traitor and the two clashed weapons once again. Alice's heat will'o was counter acting Connar's ice, the two canceled each other out, now leaving Connar with electricity.

**"What's the matter? You mad cause I, killed your boyfriend?"**

"I hate you! You destroy everything you touch you devil!" The electricity was still hurting Alice. She pushed Connar back and swung her spear wide to keep him back.

**"That would mean something if you were an actual threat. Little girl."**

_"I can't fight him like this. Need a plan."_

_"Anger activates the fallen power but serenity maintains it." _Alice remembered Leon's advise. She thought about some happier times with Natalie and Leon but that only made her even more anger. A light blue aura of pure will'o formed over Alice.

**"What do we have here?"** Connar tilted his head and smiled. **"Now this will be fun!"**

Alice rushed after Connar, her new aura countered Connar's purple. Alice swung her spear, Connar blocked but was thrown off balance. Alice struke Connar's chainsaw with the back of her spear and knocked the weapon out his hand and sent it flying several feet away.

Connar watched his weapon go flying then turned back to Alice. He held out his hands at his sides and smirked. **"Show me a good time Alice!"**

Alice dashed forward with her spear pointed for her target's heart. "I'll kill you!"

Connar simply sidestepped the spear, he reached out grabbed Alice by her face and slammed her into the ground. the thief laughed then kicked Alice in the ribs. **"Walked right into that."**

Alice backrolled to her feet, she spun her spear then took small swings. Connar extended his hidden blades and blocked her attacks.

Alice moved her right hand further from the spearhead to put more power in her swings. Connar blocked each of Alice's strikes but he was losing his balance. Alice saw Connar weakening and pressed her advantage.

Connar was now trying to redirect Alice's swings away from him while moving to stay out of direct contact.

"You sacred yet?"

Connar moved another strike aside then when for a roundhouse kick. Alice blocked with the back of her spear.

Connar was grinning widely. **"Actually. I'm having a blast!"** Alice pushed her spear and Connar fell to the ground, she raised her spear then swung down.

Connar rolled out of the way. He stood up and used his blades to catch Alice's spear. Alice pressed her weapon but wasn't getting anywhere.

She pulled her weapon back and removed the pressure against Connar's arm, letting them move up then Alice slashed the thief across the chest. "How's that!?"

Connar took several steps back, he put his hand on his chest, covering his hand in his blood. **"Now this is a fight!"** Connar used his thorn the grab a greatsword from one of the dead sinners. The thief swung his new sword and clashed with Alice. **"Seems I was wrong, there is a killer inside you."**

"I'm nothing like a demon like you!"

**"Oh, then why are you smiling?"**

"What?!"

**"You were smiling this whole fight, after you came back with that pure will'o."** The two backed off. Alice felt her cheeks, she was smiling. **"You enjoy it, the thrill of the fight, of death.**"

Alice charged at Connar. "I'm not a monster!"

...

Natalie finally awoke, she sat up and patted her chest to find her injury was gone. "Natalie please lay still." Beatrice pushed her back down.

"What happened!?" Beatrice pointed to where the two fallen sinners were trading blows. "Alice!"

"No!" Beatrice kept Natalie down. "Your wound is healed but the pain is still there. Please, you need to stay out of it."

...

The fallen clashed weapons and Connar fell back. He grabbed his will'o case and moved them to his side then sheathed his greatsword in it. When Alice got closer he pulled his weapon out and struke with tremendous force.

Alice's Spear was sent flying back, Connar let go of his sword and let it fly away too.

Alice ran to catch up to her weapon and used her thorn to get it back. Connar used his thorn to grab his greatsword and pulled.

Alice got her spear back then turned back to Connar. Connar pulled the greatsword then got out of the way, letting the weapon fly past him and straight for Alice.

Alice dove to the ground, the sword slice along her back. Alice rolled to her feet and lunged at Connar.

The thief panicked, Alice saw it and thrusted her spear. The spear pierced Connar's chest and came out of his back. Alice stood up and pushed down on her spear to induce more pain. "This world doesn't need a monster like you."

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	42. Of the other half

Chapter. 43

Conner took a hold of the spear jetted through his body. Alice stepped back and watch the thief fall to his knees.

"Alice get back!" Shouted Natalie.

Will'o flowed off of Connar's body. The thief pushed the spear through his body until the weapon came out of his back. Connar placed his thorn over his wound and absorbed the will'o, the wound healed quickly and the thorn fell apart and into the sand.

Alice drew her gun and Connar teleported in front of her, he took the gun and Connar and held Alice by her neck. **"I don't remember you. What is your number?"**

"My what?" Natalie fired at Connar with her sniper, the bullets stopped a foot away from the thief as the will'o coming off of Connar formed a barrier. Connar held out Alice's assault rifle and fired at Natalie without looking at her.

Seven bullets struke Natalie, Beatrice caught the officer and started healing her again. Connar tore off Alice's right sleeve, he touched her fore arm as if looking for something. **"No number, how did you become a risen?"**

"A what?"

Connar slammed Alice into the sand. **"I don't have time. Answer me!"**

"I don't know!" Alice could feel her will'o being drained and she was getting weaker. Thinking she was going to die Alice answered. "My mother was a fallen, I got my powers from her!"

The draining stopped and Connar seemed intrigued. **"Fallen. So that's the official name now. And it can be passed on. Interesting."** Connar scanned the desert then looked back at Alice. **"Tell me, is this the surface?"**

"Yes!"

**"What year is it?"**

"102014."

**"Twenty years. I see."** Connar's eyes returned to normal then he passed out into the sand. Alice got up and ran to Leon. Meanwhile Natalie and Beatrice examined Connar, Beatrice flipped Connar onto his back to find all of his injures were gone.

Natalie started typing on her tablet. "Looks like there's more to this fallen matter, much more." Natalie stomped on Connar's chest. "I'd kill you if my bosses didn't wanted you alive."

Alice held Leon's head and cried over the loss of her robotic friend. Beatrice kneeled beside Alice and rubbed her back. "I can fix him-"

"Please!" Alice and Beatrice picked up Leon's body and carried it back to the transport. Natalie's accessory grabbed Connar by his leg and dragged him with the others.

Once Leon was back in the transport Alice kneeled down to her fallen firend. Beatrice was looking over the damage. "how bad is it?"

"Nothing too serious. I can repair him in a few hours."

Alice saw Connar being dragged into the transport. "We should just leave him here. Let the desert decide his fate."

"We can't do that Alice, the higher ups would have our heads if we did that." Pointed Natalie. the officer held up the Connar's body and Alice punched him in the face. "Feel better?"

"A little."

...

Connar was surrounded in darkest. The sinner started walking and the world started filling with light. As Connar walked the light swirled and took shapes, Soon Connar's body started moving on it's own. The world formed into a hallway, Connar looked to his left, there were large windows showing a large garden.

Outside there were people walking around, talking, playing, doing anything normal people would do. **_"Worthless. All of them."_** Connar turned a corner and stopped at a door labeled firing range. He opened the door the find the room full of sinners shooting down lanes.

As Connar watched the sinners practice their aim one sinner caught his eye. A woman with red shoulder length hair with some of the front hair tied in a bread on her right side.

_"Is that Alice?"_

Connar tapped on her shoulder and the woman turned to him, she looked like an older Alice and both of her eyes were dark blue. _**"You seem to be a good shot. May I have your name?"**_

_**"It's ****Rosawyn, sir Devarja."**_

_**"Lovely name. I'll looking for some, shall we say, higher then average warriors for a project of mine. Care to help?"**_

_"Don't do it! He'll put you in some tank!"_ Connar shouted but to no efferent.

Rosawyn gave a slight bow._** "Anything for the good of On High."**_

Connar's body patted her shoulder. Connar tried to resist and stop him movement, as he fought back Connar felt like his body as burning. _"Come on, move! Move!" _The world turned black again and Connar was alone once more.

In the darkness Connar felt his body grow heave and fell to his knees the on his hand.

**"What do we have here?"** Connar felt someone step on his back and force him down. The thief's body felt heavy and he couldn't get up. **"Where did you come from child?"**

"I'm not a child. Where am I, who are you?"

**"You should know who I am, you were born from me."**

"Speak scene!" Connar was starting to loss consciousness.

**"Sleep now. Grow strong for my return."**

...

"AAHHH!" Connar lunged up in a cold sweat and he was breathing rapidly. The sinner slowed his breaths. Pain surged through Connar's chest, he found a large cut in his shirt. He took it off to check his torso but found no injury. "Whatever happened I must have been lucky." A quick look around showed Connar that he was back in him cell.

The world got a purple tint and Aries appeared in the cell. "I'm impressed! You never stop fighting, do you?"

Connar got up from his bed and grabbed Aries by her arms, pushing her against the wall. "What the hell is happening to me!"

"You'll need to start getting ready soon. In your heart and in your mind."

Connar dug his nails into Aries arms. "You still answer me!"

Aries put her hands on Connar's face then closed her. Aries screamed and shoved Connar away. "He's in you."

"Who? Devarja?!"

"How do you know that name?!"

Connar sat down on his bed and sighed. "I keep blacking out. And when I wake up some people die and I get these dreams. It's like I'm someone else."

Aries leaned down and held Connar's face. She kissed him on the forehead. "That keep him back for a while. Listen to me Connar. The choices you make from here on out will determine everyone's future. Don't forget that."

"I never asked for this!" Connar stood up and Aries stumbled back. "I didn't ask to be made some hero to save a bunch of people I don't know or care about!"

"It's almost time. The wheels of fate about to start turning."

"No, no you're not leaving. Who's Devarja? What do you mean he's in me?" The world began turning white. "NO!" Connar lunged at Aries but it was too late. The world was back to normal. Connar punched his wall monitor, cracking it with each hit until his hands were bleeding.

"Warning! damage to state property will be punished with a four thousand year extension."

Connar held his bloodied fists against the monitor and slid down to his knees.

Just then Percy came on screen. "Greetings sinner! Brace yourself, because I'm about to announce the results of your code 5 exam. Here it comes... You passed! Hooray! Well done for you! Now you can contribute even more to your panopticon! You did us all proud in the fight against those horrible Lemurians! I'm happy to announce that you are now a full fledged code 5 sinner! From here on out, you'll be intrusted with even more important operations than before! Aren't you lucky to have even more chances to prove how much you love your panopticon? It's time to get out there and give it your all! For the graeter good!"

As Percy disappeared from the screen Connar was shacking, even crying. "Someone. Anyone. Help me..."

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	43. What I am

Chapter. 44

Alice stepped out of her new code 6 cell into the cell block area. The area looked and smelled a lot cleaner then the lower code level she was in. The sinner leaned on the railing, thinking about Leon.

"Haven't see you in a while." Alice turned to Carlos. "You want to share what you're thinking."

"Leon. Connar... ripped his head off on the last mission. And..."

Carlos was concerned about Alice. He patted her back. "And what?"

"I'm, never mind. You don't want the hear me being sad."

Carlos chuckled. "Of course I don't. I want to see you smile." Carlos holds out his hands. "Want a hug?" He asked jokingly.

Alice turned and threw herself at Carlos, wrapping her arms tightly around him. "Thank you." Carlos was confused on what to do and just held her. "You're so sweet"

"Hahaha. No I"m not."

Alice released Carlos and backed away. "Yes you are. You act like you don't care about anything but I can see a good man in you." Alice leaned closer and kissed his cheek. "One I want to know better."

_"What's with this girl? She doesn't get any of my crude jokes, she thinks my sarcasm is sincere."_ Carlos was dumb found, he was uses to people calling him names and ignoring his attempts at humor. But Alice was different.

"Alice!" Shouted Beatrice. "There you are! Leon is fixed and waiting for you in the warren."

"Oh thank you Beatrice!" Alice reached out and hugged her. "Let's go see him. And Carlos, thank you. For being here for me." Alice gave him a hug as well and dashed off with Beatrice.

_"Maybe I can get something serious with her. No 'out' of her, not 'with' her."_ Carlos walked off, trying to shack the thoughts of him and Alice out of his head.

...

Down in the warrens The girls spotted Leon speaking with Mattias. Mattias saw them as then ran to greet him and the accessory.

"Oh, it's you... hey guys... So you two made it to code 5, huh? Me too... Just that... that exam was a freakin nightmare!"

Alice raised her hand. "Actually, I"m code 6."

"What! Oh yeah. Forgot you were a code ahead of us." Mattias let out a sigh. "We knock'em down, and they keep on coming. Kinda grinds you down, you know?"

"Will you be okay?" Asked Beatrice.

Mattias sratched his head and shouted at the sky. "AHH! At this rite I'll be an old man before I get my years worked off! We need to get the dream team back together, we need Connar back!"

"NEVER!" Shouted Alice. "That guy is a monster, he killed Loen, almost killed me. Screw him! We don't need Connar!"

"What the?" Mattias was backing away.

Leon grabbed Alice by her arm. "Alice, your eyes!" Leon held out his assault rifle. In the scope's reflection he showed Alice her eyes were glowing with will'o.

"I'm sorry..." Alice turned away form the group and took deep breaths. "Is it gone!"

"Yes, your will'o level are receding."

"What the hell was that!?" Asked Mattias.

"Well..." Beatrice fidgeted with her thumbs.

"I'm a fallen."

"Alice!"

"He's my friend Leon. He has a right to know." Alice took the next half an hour to explain what a 'fallen' was and how she be came one. "...And that's it. Please don't think less of me for being a freak or a... monster."

Leon ruffled Alice's hair. "You're not a monster, you have a gift. A gift from your mother. It's what you do with it that decides what you are."

"Wow...WOW!" Mattais grabbed a hold of Alice's hands. "So you got super human power!? This is amazing! With your new will'o abilities we might not need Connar!"

"About that..." Beatrice spoke up. Connar's a fallen too. But he doesn't have the same level of control as Alice does."

"Him too! Okay this is seriously not fair, where can I get some?"

Alice shook her head. "Trust me, you don't want it. You don't want to see Connar when his will'o takes over. He becomes a psychotic murderer."

"More so then usual?" Alice nods. "Yicks!"

"Anyway, what the situation like?"

Mattias hung his head. "Well... things aren't exactly peachy."

"As the rarely are." Pointed Leon.

"I don't know how much more of this we can take. Someone needs to do something, and fast."

Alice was confused. "But we completed the missions."

"It's a numbers game, see. And it seems like they got an endless supply of sinners to throw at us. We keep giving it everything we got, but it don't feel like it's making a damn bit of difference."

Beatrice raised her hand to her chin. "If only there was some way we could use the madness in Connar-"

"No!" Alice put her foot down. "We can protect our home on our own. We don't need a demon to fight our battles. We don't need another Abel."

Mattias puts both hand on his head and scratched rapidly. "C'mon! Quit with the negative shaz, man! You can't let it get to you!" The sinner then straightened his hair. "Gotta keep on keepin' on! It ain't over till the fat lady sings! Hooyah! Come on!"

Leon folded his arms. "Though you act like you have the situation under control, your vital signs point out that you're still questioning your resolve. Is this what is called, 'putting on a brave face'?"

"What do you just say?"

Alice and Beatrice laughed. "It seems he is alright, for the moment at least. Come, let us see how everyone is doing in the fueling station."

"Yes, let's." Alice and Beatrice took off for the usual sinner hang out. Leon fallowed after them.

As the three arrive they found Uwe and Carlos. Uwe spotted them first and waved for them to come over.

"Hey Uwe. Hello again Carlos." Greeted Alice.

"Weird how we keep running into each other, huh?"

Alice put her hands behind her back and swayed sideways. "Maybe it's fate." Carlos was surprise at how forward Alice was being now.

"I see you two are holding it together." Cut in Uwe.

"How is everyone else?"

This time Carlos answered. "Well, see for yourself. Folks are in a bad way. Moaning, wailing, crying for their mothers. Still seems things are a lot worse over in Nog." The sinner threw up his hands. "Those losers are completely going to pieces. I'm ashamed to be one of them! They think this is bad? It gets worse. A lot worse."

Uwe agreed with Carlos. "Hey, it ain't like this has been fun so far. But you're right. If you-know-who shows up, we'll be in a world of hurt."

"You mean Abel." People in the fueling station stopped what they were doing when Alice spoke Abel's name. "What? Fear of the name only increases the fear of the thing it's self." The people slowly went back to what they were doing around the station.

Uwe crossed his arms. "The fact that he hasn't made an appearance yet makes me think Houri is holding back. There's more to come, you can count on it."

"Who knows, maybe he doesn't think he even needs to put in an appearance. Maybe he thinks we're finished already." Said Carlos.

Alice put her hands on her sides. "Well, if the Abel guy shows up I'll fight him. And I'll kill him."

Uwe grinned at Alice display of bravery. "Thinking you can take on the world, huh? Connar said the same thing."

"I'm nothing like Connar!"

"Alice!" The girl turned to her accessory, then away from the others. "It's too late. They saw it."

Alice sighed loudly. "Okay, you two listen up because I'm not telling this story again today."

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	44. Guidence

Chapter. 45

Alice, Beatrice, and Leon arrived in zakka to check in with Julien, The group found the citizen and in the back of the store.

"Oh, it's you..." Greeted Julien. "You're still alive... That's good."

"Still kicking." Alice smiled. "How are you holding up?"

"Oh I"m fine, thanks. Lena on the other hand..."

Alice leaned closer. "What happen?"

"My wife, she's..."

Alice gasped and held her hands over her mouth. "Did she... die?"

"Oh no, no! Don't worry she's alive."

"Thank goodness." Alice breathed easy, know someone didn't die.

Julien was a happy. "But she seriously sprained her ankle diving out of the way when a building collapsed... I'm trying to build here walking frame, so I came here to buy parts."

"I'm so sorry." Said Beatrice.

"Well, she's somewhere safe, at least. And we're together, which is the main thing." Julien shook his head. "Really, I should count my blessings. You're the ones facing real danger."

"It's own job to protect you, so you can do your job of making us better equipment to protect you better. Sinners and citizens live and work in harmony together."

Leon clapped her hands. "That was very insightful of you Alice."

"Hehe, thanks!"

"Ah, I almost! I've been meaning to talk to you about, Them."

"Who's Them?"

"An organization rumored to be controlling the panoticons from the shadows. A kin to the Illuminati."

Julien nods. "Yeah that's right. See they were the one's stopping me from getting on info on why they were keeping Beatrice. There's a whole host of different bodies within the panoticon structure. You're aware of the office of peace and stability?"

"Yeah, Natalie's line of work."

"The I'm sure you've also heard of the political bureau. It occupies a place at the very top of the tree, and makes all the important decisions related to panopticon governance."

Alice tilted her head. "What does that mean exactly?"

"Now, what you may not have heard is that at the heart of the political bureau, there is rumored to exist an elite cabal known only as Them."

"They're top secret, and would be strenuously denied by anyone in power." Pointed Leon. "This organization has no real name and as such have be referred to only as 'Them'."

"Yes, I'm pretty sure that's who was holding Beatrice. What I'm not sure of is why. All I know is that it must have been a decision made at the very highest level. We're talking about people who far out rank Natalie."

"But.." Beatrice stuttered.

"I'm afraid that's everything I know right now. But when I get the chance, I'll do some more digging."

"Thank you." Beatrice gave a slight bow.

Alice did the same. "You're a good egg Julien."

"Right, I'd better be getting back to Lena. Take care!" Julien picked up some bags and ran out the door.

Beatrice pondered for a moment. "Them. Just who could they be? And why were they holding me captive?"

Alice threw her hands up. "Well, not like we're gonna learn anything standing here."

"You're right. My apologies."

Leon reached out and ruffled Beatrice hair. "It's quite alright, remember that you're not alone in this."

"Thank you, Leon." Beatrice closed her eyes and smiled. Remembering something Beatrice stepped back with her hands on top of her head.

"You okay?" Asked Alice.

"Yes I... It just reminded me of when Alice did that."

"And that made you think out your cousin, right?"

"Yes."

"Do you remember anything new?"

Beatrice thought and thought but nothing new came up. "I'm sorry, all I can think of is his dark hair."

...

In the warren Connar wondered out of the lift, blood still dripping from his hands. A couple of sinners brushed pasts him. "Hey watch it you-" Connar cliched his fists and turned to the sinners. A silent rage clouded his eyes. "Dracula!" The sinners ran form the lift and everyone who heard them were backing away.

"Hey you!" Connar spun to the voice to find it was Elfriede. "You alright!" The girl ran towards him.

"I'm fine."

Elfriede stopped and saw his bleeding hands. "You're not fine, who did you hit this time-"

"I'm fine!" Connar snapped. Elfriede stepped back from the outburst. Connar felt like he was just stabbed seeing the the confusion and fear in Elfriede's face. "I'm sorry. I didn't fight anyone, the blood is mine."

"Come on." Elfriede grabbed Connar's arm and dragged him to a lower level of the warren. There the girl used a medkit to bandage up Connar's hands.

"Thank you."

"Just like old times, we'd get into some fight. Me patching you up since you can't fight on your own. Hehe." Elfriede laughed a little but Connar didn't even smile. "What's wrong Co? You're usually happy to talk about the past."

"Not today... What the situation like right now?"

The lighthearted mood quickly disappeared. "The enemy isn't messing around. We've been hit hard. We've lost facilities and taken heavy casualties. It's time to fight back, but I can't do it alone. I'm going to need your help."

"Am I different Elfy?"

"What?"

"From when we were kids. How different am I?"

"Well, very different. For one you start fights instead of run-"

"That's not what I mean!" Elfriede stops bandaging Connar's hands. "I"m having black outs more often and each time I wake up feeling sick. I"m anger all the time." Connar placed his hand over his chest. "I feel like something inside me is trying to get out. Like I'm not even myself anymore. When did I get so mad?"

Elfriede held Connar's hand with her's, she felt his body was shacking hard. "Do you remember our last heist as kids?"

"Yeah." Connar pulled out his necklace. "My uncle gave us these before went to steal some, uh... What did we take again?"

"I think it was will'o tubes."

"Oh yeah! We were making a mini abductor! It was fun to work on but the thing never worked." Connar was smiling at the memory. "Where did we put that thing, is it still buried under the warren?"

"We can go dig it up to find out." Elfriede finished treating Connar's hands and put away the medkit. "That should do. Try not to punch your monitor again, it'll give you nothing but trouble."

"I noticed. Thank you Elfriede."

Elfriede patted Connar's knee and the thief put his hand over hers. The sinners gazed at one another, their faces inching closer.

Sirens blared and the sinners stood up. Percy appeared on all the screens in the warren. "Oh no! An enemy panopticon is attacking! The horrible cowards took some of our sinners by surprise, and we're suffering heavy casualties! They may only be sinners, but they're valuable resources! We have to go get them back! For the greater good!"

Connar tightened his fists. _"I hate that bear."_

"They're back for more?!"

"Then we'll just kill more of them until there's none left."

An accessory came down to the lower level to find the pair. "Message received from agent Natalie '9' Woo. Report to sector 5 A000 on level 5 of citizen's promenade immediately."

Elfriede put her hands on her hips. "I've got a bad feeling about this..."

"Might as well see what the lap dog wants." Elfriede started walking when Connar grabbed her arm. "Elfy."

"We'll talk about it... Us later. When this is over."

"Okay."

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	45. Loss

Chapter. 46

"You're late worms!" Natalie stomped her foot as Connar and Elfriede walked out of the lift. Alice, Beatrice, and Carlos were there as well.

"We came as fast as we could walk, so if you-"

"Connar!" Shouted Elfriede.

The thief took a deep breath. "What do you want this time?"

"I'll keep this brief." Natalie pushed up her glasses. "Our forces need assistance. You will be split into two teams, and each will be issued with an operation."

Alice raised her hand. "Can you give us any details?"

"Two of our forward platoons were engaged in diversionary tactics designed to confuse the enemy, but it appears that both of them have been intercepted and pinned down. It looks like they anticipated of strategy."

"Who's attacking our people?"

"The two platoons on question are being engaged by hostile forces from Lemuria and Xanadu. Your mission is to fight your way in there and extract the compromised units."

"How many of us are going?"

"Just those of you here."

Connar looked around the group, only five people were going. "Just this little collection?"

Carlos threw up his hand. "Oh, well I"m sure this is going to go without a hitch, then!"

"Shut your mouth!" Natalie snapped. "You have no right to an opinion!"

"But do we have the right to not die?" Asked Connar.

"Silence!"

"Make me!" Connar extended his hidden blades.

Elfriede grabbed his arm and Natalie's accessories held out their hands. "Not the time Connar." Connar retracted his blades.

Alice tilted her head. "What is it about Elfriede that keeps Connar in check?"

Natalie cleared her throat. "This isn't going to be easy, but we're overstretched as it is. We can't afford to throw too many resources at this."

"We not even people to you, just 'resources' to use." Connar hissed. He cliched his fist and shook them, trying to keep his anger down.

"How will we be split?" Asked Alice.

"You will be divided into alpha and bravo teams. One team goes after the 15th platoon, the other after the 16th." Natalie thinks about how to deploy the teams. "Connar and Beatrice will be deployed with Elfriede. Alice, you're with me and Carlos."

"Roger that!" Alice gives a salute.

Carlos chuckles and turns to Alice. "And here's the really fun part, Hal's in the 15th platoon, and dear little Annie's with the 16th." Alice gasped in shock to which Carlos grinned. "So you're going to have to choose one of your precious friends over the other."

Alice gave the choices some thought, coming to a conclusion Alice nodded to confirm. "We'll go save Hal."

"Alright, everyone move out!" At Natalie's command the groups separated. Alice, Carlos, Nartalie, and Leon we first to ride the lift to the ground floor.

During the ride Leon tapped Alice back. "Why did you choice to save Hal?"

"Because when he and Elfriede first met she punched him."

"I see. you fear Elfriede would leave him to die."

"Is that all?" Carlos poked Alice's ribs with his elbow.

Leon slapped Carlos in the back of the head.

_"I just hope Elfriede can keep Connar in check."_ Alice thought about her fight with Connar. _"Did I made the right choice?"_

...

In another transport Connar's left hand was shacking and twitching wildly. Connar laid his other hand over it, trying to calm himself.

"Connar.." Beatrice put her hand on his knee.

"Don't touch me!" Beatrice slid back in surprise. "Sorry, just... I don't know."

"What bothering you?" Asked Elfriede.

"I feel like I'm running on adrenaline, but nothing is happening."

"It just pre-battle jitters. It'll pass."

**_"Team alpha do you copy!"_** Natalie boomed over the intercom. **_"Both platoons have commenced their retreat, but their surround by enemy forces. You need to get out of there now!"_**

"This is team alpha, roger that!" Replied Elfriede.

_**"Hey, how are things looking over there?"**_ Asked Carlos on the com. _**"We're having a whale of a time! I've got a feeling in my bones that this is going to be the best fun ever! Bye for now!"**_

"Really looking forward to strangle that guy." Said Connar.

"Get in line." Countered Elfriede. The transport came to stop and opened up for the sinners. "We're here. Let's lock and load." Elfriede and Beatrice drew their weapons and dashed out.

Connar stood up and let go of his hand, it was still shacking and twitching uncontrollably. _"No good. I can't fight like this."_ He reached for his sword but couldn't get a firm grip on it. _"Damn it, I'll have to use hit and run plans."_ Connar fallowed his team out into the field.

Ann was down with her accessory broke. To her sides were four disk looking machines, spinning with blades on their sides. In front of Ann two sinners with chainsaw swords was running to finish her. Above on the pipes and railings were accessories, armed with grenade launchers.

Ann lowered her gaze to the ground and sighed. "At least the others are safe. Good bye Hal."

The two machines to Ann's left exploded from a stream of bullets. The accessory on the left railing was shot down by a laser bullet. As the sinners came closer Someone ran past her with a blade coming out of their right hand. "Connar?" Ann saw Elfriede destroy the other two machines with her minigun and Beatrice shoot down the other accessory on the railing.

Beatrice stood over Ann and used her thorn to heal her. "You're safe Ann. We're here to get you out."

Connar sidestepped the sinner with his hidden blade deflecting the weapon then grabbed his arm and flung him into the other sinner. The accessories on pipes aimed at Connar and fired. Connar used his thorn to escape and let the grenades kill to sinners he knocked down.

The thief used his thorn to climb up to the remaining accessories, the farthest one fired but shot the other accessory in the back. Connar's thorn lashed out and pulled the grenade launcher to him, the accessory fired but Connar leaped off the pipe. As He fell Connar shot at the last accessory then dropped the gun to grapple to a nearby railing.

More sinners came running in from both sides, armed with assault rifles. Elfriede and Beatrice took cover in some out coves while Ann took off to draw some fire away. As the bullets came from both sides the team was pinned down and couldn't get a clear shot.

"Where's Connar?" Asked Beatrice.

Elfriede takes the time to reload her minigun. "Doing what he does best."

Three sinners was getting, shooting at the out cove the group was hiding in. Connar opened and closed his left hand, the uncontrolled moving had stopped. Connar came down from the railing with both of his hidden blades out, he landed on two of the sinners, his blades piecing their necks.

The three sinner raised his sword and swung down. Connar picked up the two chainsaws, blocked with one then thrusted the other into the sinner.

Elfried noticed the attack stopped from their right. "I told you." She and Beatrice came out and attack the enemy on their left. Elfriede charged a sinner who dropped his gun for a spear, the sinner swung the spear and Elfriede changed to her brass knuckles. She punched the spear to block then punched the in the head, the sinner went down and Elfriede stomped on their head to crack it open.

Beatrice shot a sinner in the arm with her laser gun, another sinner came running in with a chainsaw and Beatrice shot them in the chest then head. The first sinner got up and ran for Beatrice but she shot him in the leg then twice in the chest. "Is that all?"

"I think so." Answered Elfriede.

Elfriede's accessory spoke up. "Lost contact with the 15th platoon. Current analysis suggests interference from dense will'o field."

...

Elsewhere Connar ducked a sinners swing and stabbed them in the eye, then threw them down. Two sinner came running at him, one swinging low at his legs and the other swinging high for his neck. Connar dove between the blade and rolled to his feet. As the sinners were surprised the thief plunged both of his blades into sinners throats and let them fall to the ground.

"Blood... Blood soothes me." Connar's thirst for blood was returning, with each kill his hand was calming down. He heard some foot steps and chased after them he went into an out cove with his chainsaw at the ready. A shadow drew closer, once the target was just around the corner Connar swung his sword and beheaded the sinner.

The body fell into Connar's arms, dressed in a white hoodle.

Connar watched the head roll away then stop as if to look at him. It was Ann, staring with eyes filled with horror.

"No... No, no, no, no!" Connar dropped the body and hid in the out cove.

"Ann! Connar!" Elfriede and Beatrice shouted. Connar's lost strength in his legs and slid down the cove wall. "Ann!" Shouted Beatrice.

Connar's left hand was twitching again, he held his hand but it wouldn't stop. _"Why? Why did this have to happen?!"_ Connar felt ill and threw up. _"Why didn't she say something? Oh God, what am I becoming? I just killed an innocent girl!"_

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	46. Gain

Chapter. 47

The transport opened, Alice and Leon came out first with their guns at the ready. "Hal! Where are you?!" Alice's shout was deafened from the sounds of gunfire. "Leon can you find Hal?"

"This way!" The two took off into the ruined city.

Carlos held his spear and followed Alice, with Natalie in the back with sniper rifle out.

Leon spotted an enemy sinner in one of the building windows and shot them down. "He's in there." Leon point to the building in front of them. "Warning! Enemy forces are on the other side, they're using an artillery abductor. They must want Hal dead and bad."

Enemy sinners arrived around the building, four armed with rocket and grenade launchers. Natalie shot one of the rocket wielders, the other shot back and Leon grabbed her and pulled Natalie out of the way then shot the sinner.

"Are you harmed Natey?"

"No, thank you Leon." Natalie sat up and sniped the other rocket sinner.

Alice and Carlos grappled to the side of the building to evade the grenade launchers. "Ready?" Asked Carlos.

"I'll take left!" The two threw their spears and impaled the remaining sinners. The two climbed down used their thorns to get back their spears as well as the grenade launchers. The two fired at the building to open a path to Hal.

Once the wall was gone Alice ran inside to find her friend. "Hal!" Alice found Hal laying face down on the floor. Alice used her thorn to heal any injures he might have had. "Hal, come on rescue is here." She flipped Hal on his back and saw he was shot in seven places.

The wall broke down and the abductor was upon them. An artillery abductor with laser cannons on its sides. Alice put her arms under Hal's and dragged him back while Leon and Carlos covered her with rifle fire.

The enemy sinners were using their rockets to bring down the whole building and let their abductor go through. Natalie sniped the enemy sinners but she was only slowing them down.

Alice got behind some cover and used her thorn the heal Hal some more. "Come on Hal, Don't die on me!" The building came down and the abductor was coming towards them. "I have to do something he can't lose here. I don't want us to die here!"

Alice's eyes shined blue and a will'o aura formed around her. The will'o aura separated and parts of it went to Alice's team mates.

Leon and Carlos looked at each other then to themselves.

"What is this?" Asked Carlos.

"Don't think! Just shoot!" Leon and Carlos aimed for the abductor's legs. Each bullet was exploding on impact, braking the machine down.

"What is this?" Natalie looked over herself to see the aura was on her as well. A enemy sinner aimed at Natalie with a sniper. The officer dropped to the ground to dodge and fired at the enemy sniper then the rest of the enemy. Natalie's shots were faster and more accurate, each one was a head spot.

The abductor's legs fell apart and the robot crashed. Leon and Carlos reloaded and the abductor primed its laser cannons.

Alice watched her team turning the tide, but it wasn't enough. The sinners still out numbered them. "We're not gonna die... We're not gonna die!" more will'o flowed off of Alice's aura and to the others.

"Aim for the barrels!" Shouted Leon. He and Carlos shot at the abductors cannon, the front of the weapon were breaking and when the abductor fired the laser cannons exploded. The damage spread to the main body of the abductor, will'o pored out of the machine and in time it was empty.

The enemy sinners panicked and turned to run. Natalie got four more kills before they were out of sight.

Alice's aura faded and everyone else's along with it. Alice looked down at Hal and found all of his injuries were gone. _"Did I do this?"_

"Alice!" Carlos shouted as he and the other regrouped. "What was that?"

"I... I don't know."

"Leon?" Asked Natalie.

The accessory scanned Alice's body, after a few seconds he shook his head. "Nothing. Alice's fallen abilities aren't something I can track."

Natalie sighed and pushed up her glasses. "Fine. We'll return to the panopticon, once there we're having a research team look at you."

"Okay." Alice gave a bow.

Carlos patted Alice's head. "Nice trick, It made me feel like I could take on the world. Hahahaha!"

Alice put her hands on her head, a blush on her face. "I helped. My power helped people."

...

Connar and his team returned to the panopticon. The mood was sour, Elfriede and Beatrice were upset with Ann's death. Connar didn't say word since they found her body, the guilt was weighting down on thief.

"Oh, Ann." Beatrice held her hands to her face to wipe away the tears.

"It never gets any easier. Losing a comrade, I mean..." Pointed Elfriede. "I'm worried about Hal. Losing a sister can't be easy." Elfriede put her her hands on her hips and sighed. "I'm going to go see how he's holding up."

Once Elfriede was gone Beatrice spoke up. "We should go too. They spent most of their time on level four, did they not?" Connar just nodded. "I'll go on ahead." Beatrice turned and walked away.

Connar's left hand was twitching again. _"Stop it."_ He held his hand, trying to make it stop. _"What am I? This isn't what I wanted!"_ The hand wouldn't stop shacking. Connar just walked to his cell, he had no right to see Hal.

As Beatrice and Elfriede approached the lift Hal came bursting out and shoved the girls a side. He saw Connar and ran straight for him. "Connar!"

The thief spun to Hal and was punched in the face. Connar stepped back, the attack almost knocked him down. "You.. you're suppose to be this super sinner Dracula, killing everyone in your way. Why did you let Ann die?! Why did My sister have to die?!"

Connar wiped his face and looked at Hal, who gave another right hook. Connar stood his ground, Hal threw another punch.

"Connar!" Shouted Elfriede.

Thief caught the fist and punched Hal in the nose, Hal was sent back a few feet. Connar stood over Hal who felt his nose was broken. "What happened to Ann was unavoidable." Hal pushed himself but stopped when Connar extended his blades. "Getting mad at me won't bring her back. If you're anger with me, fine. And as you stated before, I AM Dracula. So consider this your one, free, hit. Because if you attack me again, I'll personally reunite you with Ann."

"Ann must be avenged."

"Oh my." Beatrice gasped at Hal's statement.

"Here we go." Said Elfriede.

"The people who did this must be punished!"

Elfriede shook her head. "This is not going to end well."

Connar's stomach was twisting inside. He couldn't tell anyone what he did for fear of everyone close to Hall and Ann wanting his head. "what should we do Elfy." Connar wanted to leave, hoping to pass this problem on to someone else.

"Give me a few minutes along with him. Don't worry, I won't let him do anything stupid."

"Perhaps it would be better if we left Elfriede to it." Said Beatrice.

Elfriede nods. "Yeah. You guys rest up. I'll catch up with you later."

"Okay." Connar retreated to his cell.

In his cell Connar immediately passed out on his bed. Ann's face haunted him as he slept. "Someone help me..." Connar woke up and Aries stood in his cell.

"Guilt is a heavy burden."

"What's happening to me? I've killed so many people, why does Ann's death haunt me?"

"That's something-"

Connar shot up and shoved Aries against the wall, his hidden blade out. "No more of your damn riddles! You want me to being about your transformation then you better be giving me a hand."

"Think about it, why was Ann different?"

"I... I knew her."

Aries smiled. "See? Now what are you giving to do?"

"Why? Did I grow attached?" Connar slammed the wall. "No! I can't be attached to anyone! I'm not living in a cage!"

"Is out there better? The loneliness? I told you, someone from your past will show up."

"Elfy." Connar let go of Aries and sat down on his bed. "What should I do?"

"So you'll be ready to see Simeon, he'll help you change you're destiny. For now, learn to let go. Live with the guilt. It'll pass, and you'll grow stronger for it." Aries pulled down her hat. "Besides, no girl likes a guy who's down all the time." With that, Aries faded away.

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	47. Taming power

Chapter. 48

Alice laid on her bed as soon as she returned. She had gotten the news that Ann had died and felt regretful. _"I should've been there for her, but what if it was Hal who died if I wasn't there."_ Alice hated this feeling of helplessness. She rolled onto her side and just wanted to forget it all.

The world turned purple and Aries appeared in Alice's room. "Regret... It's a heavy burden."

"Hello Aries." Alice sat up.

"You can't help wondering if maybe you chose the wrong path."

"Yes, that's exactly how I feel right now."

Aries patted Alice's shoulder. "Once you've chosen, you can't change your mind. But it doesn't have to be that way."

Alice looked up. "What do you mean? I can't raise the dead or go back and fix this."

Aries snickered. "Simeon can. He can help you choose a different path. He can help you go back and make those difficult decisions again."

"How?!" Alice stood up. "You can't rewrite history, no one has that kind of power."

"And yet here you are, a fallen who can control will'o. Something no one else can." Alice didn't know how to respond. "You've already proved that you're ready to meet him. But it won't be long now."

"What is?"

"When the time is right, you'll come face to face at last. Just like Cesare did."

"You know Beatrice's father?" Alice grabbed Aries' arms. "Where is he now, tell me!"

"He's with Simeon, out of your friend's reach. There is one more thing you need to do."

"What?"

"You must help Connar."

Alice let go Aries. "Never! That man is a monster, killing everything in his way. I wouldn't be surprised if it was Connar who killed Ann."

Aries pulled her down. "He kills because he can't help himself. Connar's mind is fragile right now and the will'o is making it worse. Connar blacks out when he gets anger and that's when the will'o takes control, turning him into Dracula as some have come to call him. If nothing is done Connar will destroy himself along with anything or anyone around him."

Alice turned away. "I can't, I won't help someone only to let them kill even more."

"What would you parents do? Would they leave someone in need?"

Alice sighed and looked at Aries "They would keep on trying to help everyone and keep on smiling, even in the bleakest days." Alice lightly punched Aries in the arm. "It's not fair to use someone's family against them. I help him."

Aries smiles and fades away.

...

Alice and leon approached Connar's cell, just outside Leon stopped Alice. "Connar is mentally unstable. He is quick to anger so try not to push him or he'll turn to his fallen side."

"Okay." The cell door opened and Connar's accessory moved aside to let them in.

Connar sat on his bed and looked at the two. "What do you what?"

Alice could tell he was already on edge. "Look, I'm not here to fight. I'm here to help."

"I didn't ask for your help."

"You need my help!"

Connar stood up. "Is that a threat?"

"You have black outs, right? Aries told me."

Connar let out a loud grown. He raised his hand to his chest, whatever was inside him was killing him. Connar could feel it and it can't go on. "Fine. How will you help me?"

"Do you remember when I asked you about the fallen?"

"Yeah."

Alice's eyes glowed with will'o and an aura formed around her. Connar was taken back by what he was seeing. "I'm a fallen, I have the ability to channel will'o to strength myself and others." Alice dismissed the will'o, making it fade away. "You have this power too."

"You mean I can do what you just did?"

"Not quite." Said Leon. "When your will'o comes out it takes control of you." Leon waved his hand over the wall monitor. The screen showed when Connar became a fallen for the first time. Connar felt sick from watching himself, Leon switched to the other times Connar's fallen side took over till finally showing his fight with Alice. Leon stopped it before it got to where Alice almost killed him.

Alice holds her hand out to the monitor. "See? You have something inside you, something evil. I'm offering help."

_"I... I didn't kill Ann, that thing did it. It has to have. I remember doing it, No! The thing inside me did it. I need to believe that."_ Connar nods to his quests. "I accept."

Alice gave a big smile. "Great! Let's go right now!"

...

The three arrived at the lower level of the warren. Alice gave a quick look around to find no one around. "This is perfect. Time to start."

"Hold on." Leon pointed to where they came down and everyone saw Elfriede coming to join them. "I called her hoping Elfriede could help us."

"What's going on?" Asked Elfriede.

"We're here to help Connar control his fallen self."

"Fallen?"

Alice turned on her will'o power. "You've seen Connar do this, right? I'm a fallen too, but Connar can't control himself. We're gonna fix that."

Elfriede was following along so far. "Okay, why do you need me?"

Leon answered her. "connar seems to snap out of it when you're around. Something about you can stabilize Connar's mentally.

"Anyway!" Connar drew everyone's attention. "Can we get started please?"

Alice sighed. "Fine, but only because you said please." Alice changed back to normal.

"You're weapons please." Asked Leon. "In case you go mad during this you won't cause any real harm."

"I get it." Connar gave Leon his sword and gun.

"Your wrist blades too."

Connar took them off and gave them to Elfriede. "Look after these."

"Why me?"

"I trust you more then anyone here with my favorite weapons."

"Understood."

"First thing you need to know is that to release your will'o you need to get angry, then to keep it going you have to think of something calming." Explained Alice. "What gives you peace of mind?"

Connar glanced to Elfriede, he closed his eyes and thought about Natalie. _"That lap dog, I'll kill her."_ Connar let his anger grow, will'o rapidly surged through him.

"Here it comes!" Leon put his arm under Connar's and lifted him up.

"AAAAHHHHHH!" Connar's eyes shot open with will'o flaring out. **"I'll kill you bitch!"** Connar shouted at Alice. He struke Leon in the head with his elbow but the accessory stayed strong.

"Elfriede!" Shouted Alice, she grabbed Connar's arm to make him stop.

Connar was kicking out his feet, trying anything to get free.

Elfriede got as close as she could. "Connar, you need to stop this! Don't let the will'o control you!"

**"Don't?! I love the madness, this is who I am! Ha ha... Hahahahahahaha!"** Connar reached into his jacket with his free hand and pulled out a flare knife.

Leon let go of Connar before he stabbed the accessory. Elfriede punched Connar and he let go of his knife.

"Wake up Connar, now!"

Connar punched Elfriede who block with her arms. "I, can't... hurt." Connar leaped back **"You little, I don't want to go back, I like being a monster."** Connar held his head. "Stop it. Stop it!" The thief fell to his knees. **"Never!" **Connar used his thorn to get his knife back. He held the blade to his own neck.** "Stay down, I'll kill us both!"**

"Connar!" Everyone stepped closer and Connar cut the side of his neck, drawing blood.

**"Stay back! I'll go out on my terms, not yours, not anyone's. Mine!"** Connar's hand was shaking and he cut deeper. **"Stop fighting me! I'll kill us both, I swear I'll do it!"**

Will'o shined around Connar and burst out in a shock wave. Everyone was blown back from the massive release of will'o.

"Is everyone okay?" Asked Leon.

Alice patted her body. "I think so."

"I'm fine too." Elfriede stood up. "What just happened?"

As the dust cleared Connar laid face down as blood pooled around his neck. Alice rushed over and used her thorn to heal him.

Elfriede held his hand. "Connar feels cold."

"I don't know but..." Alice repaired the damage to Connar's neck. "This thing inside Connar is beyond evil, and it's going away with a fight."

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	48. Of greater reason

Chapter. 49

Alice and Elfirede stood over Connar as Leon ran a check of the boy's virtues.

"Anything?" Asked Elfriede.

"His mental status is worsening. His will'o seems to be healing his body but it's tearing at his mind."

"What can we do?"

Leon stood up and looked at Elfriede. "Not we, you. You seem to be able to calm Connar just by being near him, hopefully he'll even out if he's around you more." Leon was getting a message from Natalie. "Alice it's time for us to go. Natalie wishes to speak to you about you're fallen abilities."

"Okay but, what about Connar?"

Elfriede kneeled down and patted Connar's back. "I'll look after him."

"Okay, see later Elfriede!" Alice and Leon went up the steps to met up with the officer.

"Mmm..." Connar gowned as he started to wake up.

"Connar!"

"Elfy?"

Elfriede helped Connar up on his knees. "Careful your-"

Connar lunged at Elfriede and held her tightly. "Sorry, I"m so sorry."

"Connar..."

"I can feel it, my anger, it's making me hurt you."

Elfriede pushed Connar off of her and held him by his arms. "Listen to me, we're looking for a way to help you. So don't start thinking there's nothing that can save you. You need to start fighting this, cause the Connar I know doesn't quit."

"Thank you Elfy. You were always the compass."

"Then get up and let's get out of here." The two stood up and returned to the common area of the warren.

Once they arrived Beatrice found them. "Hello you two."

"Hi." Said Connar in a low tone.

Elfriede took her usual pose. "There you are. Good."

Beatrice fidgeted a bit. "How is Hal doing."

"He's starting to come to terms with it, I think." Connar felt sick, he held his arms against his stomach. "She's actually a lot calmer now. Maybe you should go and talk to her."

"Connar are you okay?"

"I'm fine Beatrice. Just a little under the weather."

"Anyway." Elfriede tried to get the steering the conversation back to her. "It's friends he needs right now more then anything."

Beatrice nods. "Very well. He's still on level four of citizen's promenade, I take it? I will go on ahead and meet you two there." Beatrice turned and walked away.

Elfriede rested her hand on Connar's back. "Are you going to be okay?"

"I don't know, I don't I should see Hal."

Elfriede jumped and smacked Connar in the back of the head. "Of course you should! I failed to save her too so you're not the only one feeling some guilt."

_"You have no idea how I feel."_ Connar tightened his fists. _"No! Anger brings out Dracula, don't get upset."_ The thief exhaled. "You're right, thank you Elfy."

"Good, let's go then."

...

The three sinners arrived on the code four level. Beatrice and Elfriede began the conversation while Connar hung back.

"Thank you for everything you did the other day..." Said Hal

"Are you feeling any better?" Asked Beatrice.

"Yes I think I am, Thanks to everyone's help. Elfriede's been spending a lot of time with me, and helping me come to terms with things..."

_"What!"_ Connar's anger was sky rocketing. _"Must keep calm, must keep calm, must kill, No! Stop it!"_ Connar's breathing was becoming rapid, trying not to let his other half resurface.

Hal hung his head. "But I don't think I'll ever be able to forget what happened. With Ann gone, it's like this huge void's open in me. That's how it feels." Hal looked to Connar. "Hey Connar!"

The thief looked up. "Yes."

"I'm sorry for hitting you, I was just anger."

_"You have every right to be."_ Connar felt terrible. "I understand. I, we failed you. We failed Ann."

"Still, I know I've got to try and move on, just in case."

Elfriede tilted her head. "In case of what?"

"Well, I sometimes think Ann's going to come back, you see. And that it'll be just like old times again..."

_"She's dead! I cut her head off, she's not coming back!"_ Connar's chest was hurting from remembering the event._ "No, no I didn't do it. The other me did it, right?"_

"I need to stand on my own two feet again." Hal shook the girls hands. "I think it's time we started contributing again. I hope you'll let me come with you on an operation sometime."

"Of course, we'd be happy to have you with us." Said Beatrice.

"Thank you. For coming to see me, I mean. There's no need to feel gloomy when I've got friends like you."

"We're happy to help."

Hal snaps his fingers. "Uwe came to see me too, you know. Which reminds me, he said he was looking for you Connar."

"What? oh, yeah, Uwe I'll go find him." Connar walked towards the lift.

"What's up with him."

Elfriede punched Hal in the knee. "He's just having some issues that need ironing out."

...

Back in the warren Connar was searching for Uwe, after a few minutes of looking he found him with Carlos.

"Uwe! You wanted to see me?"

"There you are. I wanted to ask you about the rescue operation. What was your take on it?"

"What do you mean?" Connar's heart was beating faster. _"Was I found out!"_

Carlos nods. "Some people seem to think there was something fishy going on, you see."

"Who this that?"

"Well, Uwe for a start!"

Uwe crossed his arm and glared at Carlos. "Come on, Carlos..."

"Hey don't 'come on' me! You're the one who's been looking at me funny!"

"That's enough. Outnumbered or not, the fact remains. A whole platoon was wiped out, and our efforts to help them were a total disaster." Uwe raised his hand to his chin. "The way the enemy concentrated their forces, it was like they knew we were deploying diversionary tactics."

Connar breathed easier, knowing his secret was safe.

Carlos turns to Connar. "Listen, I'm not making excuses for having messed up, but don't you think it's possible we might have a leak?"

The sirens blared once more.

"Are you kidding me!?" Shouted Connar.

"Heh. How's that for timing?"

"We better get going and stop them." Said Uwe.

Connar's left hand was shacking again. _"Not again. It's like last time."_

...

Alice and Leon approached their cell to find Natalie with a small groups citizens.

"Miss Woo, what is this?" Asked Alice.

One of the citizens stepped up to speak. "We're with the medical R and D. Miss Woo has spoke to us about your... special ability. We'd like to see and study it."

Natalie pushed up her glasses. "All of you wait out her, I'm speaking with Alice about this." The two women stepped into the cell.

Once the door closed Alice spoke first. "What is this Natey?"

"Sit down." The two sat on Alice's bed. "Your power is a complete unknown. My higher ups are, more less, demanding that I get you looked at."

"Why me? Why not Connar, he has the same power."

"They tried. Connar killed them all, even killed one with a spine he ripped out some else."

Alice was in a state of shock, horror, and awe. "What's gonna happen to me?"

Natalie put her hand on Alice's back. "These are some of the very few people I trust. I'll take a look at you and study your will'o. But I'll be there to make sure nothing happens to you. Think about it, this could help us get a edge over the war were in."

"Like what?"

Natalie opened up her tablet. "It could make medkits better, a strong absorbing of will'o. You remember when you strengthened everyone when we saved Hal? We want to see if we can synthesize that. But first we need to see it happen.

"I, I don't know. Will this really save lives?"

"Yes." Natalie held Alice hand. "I promise nothing bad will happening to you."

"Okay." Alice leaned on Natalie's side. "Let's help as many as we can, I don't want to anyone I know die."

Natalie smiled and kiss the top of Alice's head. "You're just like your father."

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	49. Lost in rage

Chapter. 50

Alice stood in a training room as four accessories marched in from the other side, each of the machines held melee weapons.

Leon received orders from the citizen and Natalie who were watch. "Alice! You're to dispatch these accessories in close range combat."

"Okay!" Alice spun her spear then dashed towards the closest robot.

The accessory swung low with a katana, Alice hopped over the blade and cut off the accessory's head. The second and third machines attack from the sides, both wielding spears. Alice ducked and let the accessories stab each other.

The last accessory held a concrete hammer, it circled Alice as she got out from under the other robots. The accessory swung it's hammer at Alice, who stepped back from each swing. The accessory raised it's weapon and slammed it down.

"Got you!" Alice stepped on the hammer and impaled the machine. "All done."

Four more accessories came into the room, each armed with the same weapons as the ones before.

Leon received new orders. "Alice! Dispatch the accessories, this time use your will'o."

"Understood!" Alice released her will'o, she was blanketed in a blue aura that covered her weapon as well. "This will be fun!" Alice rushed at the first accessory.

The machine swung it's katana, Alice blocked the attack then knocked the weapon out of the accessory's hands. "Nothing..." Alice slashed the accessory in half.

The next two accessories attacked from the sides. Alice stabbed the one on her right and swung it around to slam into the other, it pushed the broken accessory off then was stabbed by Alice.

The last accessory swung its hammer at Alice, she slid under the attack and impaled it.

Alice got up and spun her spear then put it back in her will'o case. "All too easy." Alice let her will'o fade.

More accessories came in, this time armed with assault rifles.

Alice drew her own rifle. "Long range?"

Leon nods. "Without will'o."

Alice dove behind a pillar as the machines shot at her. When the sound of gunfire stopped Alice leaned out to shoot. She shot down an accessory trying to get a closer shot but another accessory shot her in the arm.

"Damn it!" Alice took out one of her medkits from her dress pocket.

_"Alice, how bad are you hurt?!"_ Natalie spoke through Alice's earpiece.

"Just winged me, I'm getting it patted up." Once Alice was finished she looked out to see two accessories still shooting. Alice reloaded and ran for another pillar, shooting another accessory on the way.

When Alice got to cover the third accessory came around the other side. Alice swung her gun and struke the accessory in the face. The sinner grabbed the accessory by the back of its head and rammed it into the pillar until the machine stopped resisting.

"Last one!" Alice rolled out of cover and fired at the final accessory. The machine fell and Alice reloaded. "Anything else?"

"Do it again, this time with will'o."

Four more accessories came in and took up positions.

Alice released her will'o, her aura was larger then the last one. "Come on!" Alice took aim and shot at one of the accessories. Each bullet exploded against the robot till it was in pieces.

The other accessories opened fire on Alice, she punched the ground and created a green thicket with her thorn. Alice hide behind the thicket as the accessories fired.

"Lights out!" Alice fired in bursts at the accessories, four bullets hit each machine and exploded with will'o with every hit.

More orders came to Leon. "Alice! You given the citizens some good data, they're asking if you'd like to continue or stop now."

"I'm fine, better then fine! Let's keep going!" Alice twirled her spear. "This feeling is incredible."

"Then let's go into the next room." Leon lead Alice to a room with an all purpose biped abductor and six accessories, all with different weapons. "The next exercise is for that ability you used, the one where you gave everyone a will'o aura. They want to see what it does."

"Understood." Alice thought about her power but nothing came out. She turned her thoughts to the operation to save Hal, and how helpless she felt. The feeling was making her angry, will'o flowed off her body and on to the accessories.

The machine fired their weapons at the abductor. The assault rifle's shots each exploded as they hit the abductor, the sniper rifle's bullet hit the machine's elbow and blow it apart. One accessory held a blaster, it fired at the abductor's knee and turned it to scrap. The accessory with a rocket launcher fired and destroyed the top half of the machine's torso. The last two carried a minigun and a flamethrower, the flamethrower's fire turned blue and melted the abductor's body while the minigun's bullets coated what was left of the abductor in will'o blasts.

When it was over the abductor was gone, not one piece remained of the giant robot.

Leon called out to Alice. "That's it for now, time to go back."

"No way I want more! More damn it!"

"Alice?"

"I said... **I want more!**"

Leon panicked. "Send in the other abductor! Now!" The gate opened and another abductor came in. "Last one for today Alice, okay?"

The girl changed to her spear and charged, will'o clocking her weapon. The abductor swung its arm to grab Alice, who slashed the fingers off. **"Worthless!"** Alice spun to build up speed and sliced through the robots leg. She stepped back and threw her spear in the abductor's head, a line of will'o connected the spear to her hand.

Alice pulled her hand back and with it the abductor was pulled to down. **"I'm liking this!"** The machine crashed head first and Alice took her spear back. Alice jumped onto the abductor's back and sliced it in half. will'o pored onto the floor, Alice put her hand in it and began absorbing it. **"More... more, more, I want more!"**

"Alice!" Leon got behind Alice and threw his arms around her. "Stop this madness, this isn't you!"

**"Let go of me!"**

"You're turning into Connar!" Alice stopped struggling and her will'o aura was fading. "It's okay, it's okay." Alice dropped her weapon and started to cry.

...

It was late afternoon when the transport arrived in the city ruins. Connar, Uwe, and Carlos. They found four sinners guarding an ice biped abductor, with shoulder mounted missile launchers.

Uwe put on his brass knuckles. "Careful, there could be more."

"Yeah, yeah." Carlos took out his spear. "Come on Connar."

"Who are to, to..." Connar reached for his will'o case to find it was empty, he looked down at it and saw his wrist blades were gone as well. _"Oh no this bad."_

"Here they come!" Uwe charged to meet his enemy head on with Carlos right behind.

**"Connar, let me out."** The thief held his head. **"You'll die if you don't let me out."**

"Shut up, I stopped you before." The pain was getting greater and Connar fell on his knees. "Don't get angry, I can't get angry. You can't come out if I don't."

**"That was the rule. keyword 'was'." **Connar screamed and fell unconscious.

An enemy sinners heard Connar and stopped, this gave Uwe and Carlos the chance to attack get easy kills.

A sinner with a concrete hammer escaped the two and went after Connar. The sinner raised his hammer and slammed it down.

Connar rolled out of the way and lunged at the sinner while grabbing the hammer. The thief held the sinner's throat, crushing it in his grip. Connar looked at the sinner with glowing blue eyes. **"Thanks for the weapon**.**"** Connar squeezed the sinner's neck, blood flowed through his fingers.

When the sinner was dead Connar just tossed him aside and gave his new hammer a test swing then walked to the battle.

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	50. Fighting back

Chapter. 51

The enemy sinners were herding Uwe and Carlos away from the abductor, buying time for the machine to primed it's missiles.

Connar grappled to the abductor's head and slingshot himself up In the air Connar raise his hammer, as he fell on the abductor he slammed down on it head, caving it in.

Standing on the machine Connar swung his hammer and broke off the left missile launcher. He spun around to the other launcher and smashed it with his weapon.

The abductor jumped and Connar leaped off as well. As the abductor stood after its hop Connar swung his hammer into the back of its knee. The Abductor's leg broke off and it fell on its side.

Connar laughed manically as he crushed the abductor's body with his hammer. The enemy sinners stopped to see their machine was down.

"Save the abductor!" Shouted one of the sinners as they ran to stop Connar. Uwe and Carlos attacked the sinner almost unopposed as they ran away.

A sinner drew a greatsword and swung, Connar swung his hammer to counter. The force of the swing knocked the sinner on their back, Connar kicked them in the side to flip them our and search the will'o case. The sinners all held out their guns and fired.

Connar punched the dirt and grew a thorn wall, he took an assault rifle for the sinner then shot them.

A two sinners threw frag grenades and destroyed the thorn wall, in the smoke Connar shot the sinners. The enemy sinners could see the glow of Connar's eyes through the smoke cloud.

**"When you get to hell, you better set up a welcoming party."** A sinner aimed her sniper and Connar shot the sinner in the head. **"Because I'm gonna be sending friends!"**

The sinners were backing away and Connar shot another trying to aim at him. **"Your family."** Connar shot another one.** "Your friends."** A sinner grappled to a building and Connar shot them down. **"Everyone you know will be meeting you down there!"**

The last three sinner rushed at Connar, their guns spraying bullets. Connar rolled out of the way and shot two more. The last one dropped his gun and Connar threw his thorn to pulled them closer.

The sinner laid on the ground, he looked up and saw the barrel of Connar's rifle. **"Tell them I said, Hi."** Connar pulled the trigger.

...

"NO!" Alice ran out of the training hall. "I'm done! I don't want this power, I don't to be a monster!"

...

The three sinners returned to the panopticon. Uwe threw his hands up in frustration. "Still no sigh of Houri out there."

"Nope. I'm getting tired of fighting their lap dogs. When are we going to get a crack at the champ?" Carlos was losing his patience was well. He looked away and caught sight of Mattias speaking with some sinners. "Hmm? What's going on ever there?"

"Won't know staying here." Connar went towards the small group of sinners. "Hey! What's going on here?"

"Don't talk down to us Dracula!" All but Mattias drew their weapons. "We're not gonna die to a monster like you!"

"We've lost our friends because of you!"

"He's no sinner, he's a devil!"

Connar's legs felt weak, his breath was becoming rapid. _"How many people have I killed? No, no it wasn't me. It wasn't me!"_

"Can it sinners!" Shouted Uwe. "You're all on edge because of the constant attacks and need something to blame."

The sinners lowered their weapons as Connar took cover behind Uwe. "We're tired of following our orders to the letter and still seeing our comrades dropping like flies!"

"We won't stand for it any more! The authorities don't know what the hell they're doing!"

Carlos let out a laugh. "Ahh, I love a bit of righteous indignation! If we're lucky, this might even come to blows!" Carlos turns to Connar. "If it does, you should take advantage of the confusion and stick one on Uwe. Go on, you know you want to."

The thief just hung his head.

"No? Well I'm going to dive in and settle a few scores of my own then. Let's get ready to rumble!" Carlos announced.

Mattias was waving his arms. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Guys, please! Just chill out and listen a second, alright?" Everyone's attention was on the pink haired sinner. "Look, I know life in this con ain't easy, but do you really think it's better anywhere else?" No one answered. "Course it ain't! So let's start thinking about how to turn this situation around!"

_"When did Mattias become so mature?"_

Mattias turned to the thief. "At least he agrees with me, right Connar?"

"How are we supposed to turn anything around? No one upstairs wants the hear a word we have to say!"

"Yeah! The only time we hear from them is when they want to tell us they've come up with yet another stupid law!"

"Hear, hear!" The sinners were getting restless again.

"Shaz! Help me out here, will you?" Mattias looks to Uwe for help.

"Listen up, all of you!" The sinner quieted down. "Whining about you're lot in life is easy. Any dumb kid can do it. But you ain't dumb kids. What are you?" The sinners didn't know what to say. "What's that on your wrist, huh? What's that on your back? You're sinners, dammit! With the power and the means to defend yourselves. So quit throwing your toys outta the crib, and let's talk about this like adults."

Connar looked at the white thorn on his right arm. _"This thing in me, this fallen. I tell it to stop and that's all I do, talk."_ Connar cliched his fist. _"You won't take me again Dracula. Next time, I'll be ready."_

"And let's figure out what we can do about it. Less complaining, more action! Sound good to you?" Uwe finished his speech.

"You there!" Everyone turned and saw Natalie with her accessories. "This little meeting of yours is a grave violation of the people's charter. Your sentences have all been increased." Everyone's years went up five hundred.

Uwe just sighed. "Looks like were done here. You sinners get back to your cells."

"Sheesh! Maybe I'm not as persuasive as I thought!" Mattias rubbed his head.

"I'm sure you think you did a wonderful job." Natalie coldly glared at the sinners, mostly Connar who seemed to be in deep thought. "But here's the cold, hard real: if humanity is going to have a hope of surviving, iron discipline and order are what we're going to need, not your wishy-washy mediation."

Natalie got a call on her earpiece, her eyes widened. The officer gave a concerned glace at Connar then walked away.

Carlos laughed once the officer was gone. "Ahh, there's never a dull moment here, is there?"

"Maaan." Mattias sighed. "She scares the shaz out of me! you think she ever lightens up, even just a little?"

Uwe folds his arms. "She has her reasons, same as all of us. Anyway, that's enough excitement for one day. Back to your cells and get some rest."

...

**"Connar..."**

"No!" Connar punched his cell wall. "Get out of my head."

**"Why? This is my head, you're the one intruding."**

Connar punched the wall again. "Get out! Now!"

**"No. You get out."**

"AHHHHH!" Connar held his head. He stepped back and fell to his knees. "No!" The thief pounded the floor with his fists. "You won't brake me!"

**"You can't brake what's already broke."**

"Get out..." Will'o rose form Connar's body. "Get out."

**"What the-"**

"Get out!" Will'o splashed all over the cell. "GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" The will'o exploded, greatly damaging the cell. Connar fell on the floor, fading out of consciousness. "You won't, take, my..." The thief finally closed his eyes.

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	51. Reassurance

Chapter. 52

Alice threw open the training hall doors and ran out, with Leon chasing after her. "No! I don't want that power! I don't don't want to be a monster!"

"Alice please stop!" Leon got to Alice and grabbed her arms. "You need to calm down, it's okay."

"It's not okay!" Alice shook Leon off her. "That power is evil, I don't want it!"

"Okay, I won't force you to use it."

Alice calmed down. "Thank you."

"Alice!" Natalie ran towards the two. "Are you okay? Leon called me."

"I don't want my will'o ability, the more I use it the more I become like Connar!"

Leon tried to consoled Alice. "You must be feeling afraid right now-"

"What do you know Leon?! You're not human, you don't know what it's like to feel!"

"Alice that's not fair!" Shouted Natalie.

"Shut up! You're just using me, you don't care about how I feel! Nether of you care how I feel!" Alice turned and ran away.

"Alice!" The sinner didn't answer and kept running. Natalie and Leon just watched her leave. The officer rested her hand on Leon's shoulder. "You okay?"

"I feel conflicted. I know she only spoke in anger but there's this odd sensation within me."

"It's okay that's normal. Alice just needs a minute to herself to calm down and collect her thoughts. Once she does she apologize and we can talk about how to control this will'o in her."

"I will. Thank you Natey."

"Your welcome, now." Natalie pushed up her glasses. "I need you to keep a even better eye on Alice from now on. Until we can get a better understanding of her powers we afford to let her get anger." The officer tightened her fist. "I'll be damned if she becomes like that worthless sinner Connar."

"I will Natey."

"Thank you." Natalie patted the accessory on the back.

...

Meanwhile Alice ran down to the warren, She stopped running to catch her breath.

As Alice got her barrings someone walked to her. "Watch it!" The person turned out to be Carlos. "Oh, well what are you doing down here?"

"I, I just needed to..." Alice threw herself at Carlos, holding him tightly. "I'm scared, I'm scared of turning into a monster."

"What are you talking about?"

"Can we go somewhere? I want to talk to you."

Carlos grinned. "Okay. Fueling station it is." The two sinners went down some stair and entered the shop. Carlos ordered some drinks and sat beside Alice on a sofa. Alice told Carlos about everything that happened, fighting Connar, testing her new ability, and losing herself to the will'o.

Almost an hour went by as Alice told her story, she sipped the last of her drink and sighed. "I don't want this power, all it can do is cause pain."

"Is that so bad?" Alice spun around to Carlos. "We're sinners, we hurt people so our lovely panopticon can prosper."

"But..." Alice thought about his words.

"So you lose control when you use it too much. Easy answer, don't use it too much. I think you should learn what your limit is so you'll know when to stop."

_"...Medkits better, a strong absorbing of will'o. You remember when you strengthened everyone when we saved Hal?"_ Natalie's words echoed in Alice's mind.

"And let's not forget when your will'o power saved everyone." Carlos pointed out. "So it can't be all bad. You okay girl?"

Alice teared up and hugged Carlos. "Thank you." Alice looked at Carlos, she slowly leaned closer and connected their lips.

Carlos froze, his mind as well. Alice pulled back and laid her head his shoulder. Without thinking he placed his hand on Alice's arm.

"Thank you."

"I think you just send that."

"I mean it." Alice snuggled up against Carlos. "I feel safe right here."

"Uh..." Carlos gentle pushed Alice off of him. "As much as I'd like to continue this, I uh, need to see someone." Carlos got up and backed away to the door.

"Who is it?"

"Someone you haven't met."

"Can I come too?" Alice stood up.

"No, you wouldn't like them. I'll see you later, tomorrow." Once Carlos was out the door the sinner ran for it._ "What is that girl? Everything is thrown upside down when she's around."_

Alice was saddened that Carlos left, she ordered another drink and headed back to her cell.

...

Alice returned to her cell, there Leon was waiting for her. "Feel better Alice?"

"Yes..." Alice stepped up to her accessory and hugged him. "I'm sorry about what I said before."

Leon returned the hug. "It's alright, you were only speaking out of anger."

Alice pulled away. "Leon...? If I lose control again... I want you to, to kill me."

"Alice-"

"I mean it!" Alice cliched her fists. "I can't bare the idea, the guilt of killing someone impotent to me. Please, promise me Leon."

Leon wrapped his arms around Alice. "Okay, if that's what you want."

Natalie arrived at Alice cell and spotted the two. "Hey!" Alice and Leon separated. "Do you feel any better Alice?"

The sinner nods. "Yes. I'm, I'm sorry about what I said before. Please forgive me, I was just sacred, and upset."

Natalie also gave Alice a hug. "It's okay, I'm sorry as well. I shouldn't have pushed you so hard to learn how to use you're will'o."

"It's okay. I know now I have limit of how much I can use it before... before I lose myself."

"Alright." Natalie and Alice broke apart and the officer rested her hand on Alice's head. "I just want you to be safe, I won't force you to do anything."

"Please stop that." Natalie and Leon laughed and Natalie took her hand off of Alice's head. "I want to continue learn how to use my will'o, but I want to do it slowly. I won't be a monster."

Natalie's earpiece beeped, letting her know she has a message. Natalie listened to it then returned her attention to Alice. "We'll have to put a hold on that, we have top priority operation. Go get anything and everything you think you'll need."

"Okay!"

Natalie turned and walked away.

"Alice?" Leon held an assault rifle and chainsaw sword. "We forgot to give this back to Connar."

Natalie spun back to Leon. "You can do that soon, he's coming with us on this operation. I'm going to get him now."

"We'll come too." Said Leon. "Alice and I won't let him touch you."

"No need I'll be fine."

"Oh be quite Natey." Alice hooked her arm around Natalie's. "You're always protecting me. Time to return the favor."

"Fine, but keep your arm off, I do have a professional appearance to keep up."

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	52. To turn the war

Chapter. 53

Connar awake on the floor of his cell. His body was weak, he could barely push himself up. When Connar got back on his feet his cell walls were scotched and his accessory was badly damaged.

Connar used his thorn to fix his machine. "Hey, I want out now."

"Severe damage to cell, sentence-"

"I don't give a rats ass, let me out now!"

The accessory opened the door and Connar stumbled out of his cell, grabbing the railing for support.

"There you are. Good." Cannar turned to the voice to find Natalie with Alice and Leon. "I have an operation of you. You'll be going up against the Houraians. We're going to try and steal a march on them, for a change."

Connar leaned harder on the rail as it was the only thing keeping him up.

"Our aim is to clear a path for an important item to be taken back here, are you listening?!"

Connar sank to his knees, is vision was blurring. "Help me..." He whispered.

Leon and Alice rushed to the thief's side. The accessory preformed a scan on Connar's body. "Alice, his will'o levels a dangerously low!"

"Right!" Alice used her thorn on Connar, giving him some of her own will'o. When her thorn was out she used a will'o pack to refill it. "Any better?" Connar reach up at the rail and pulled himself back on his feet. "What happened to you?"

"I, this thing inside me... It won't stop..."

"Miss Woo maybe he-"

"No. As much as it pains me to say it, he has become one of our top sinners. He's going and that's it." Natalie stood right in front of Connar. "Get prepped and sigh up for the operation, that's a order." The officer left, with Alice right behind her.

Leon placed Connar's weapons in front of him and fallowed after the other two.

_"Who does the wretch think she-"_ Connar fell back on his knees, his body was still weak. _"What the hell is happening? I need to get outside, I need air."_ Connar picked up his weapons and looked at his accessory as he put them away. "Hey tin can, help me up." The accessory did as took and helped Connar walk to the lift to go to the warren.

When they got down the stairs the robot spoke up. "Message from Mattias, requesting you met him at the fueling station."

"Great. No I'm not going."

"Another message, this time from Elfriede."

Connar was more focused when he hear Elfriede's name. He pushed himself off of the accessory and stood and shacking legs. "What did she say?"

"She requests a meeting in the fueling station."

"Fine, let's go see what they want." Connar took a step and fell down. "A little help?" His accessory pulled Connar back up.

...

"There you are!" Said Elfriede as Connar walked into the fueling station, getting the attention of mattias and Uwe.

Mattias nods to the thief. "Finally! What kept you? It ain't cool to keep your buds hangin, you know!"

"Sorry..." Connar took a seat next to Mattias on the sofa.

"Did he just say sorry?" Mattias was stunned that Connar actually apologized.

"You're on to talk!" Countered Elfriede.

"Stow it, you two. Let's get started." Uwe commanded. "Natalie has assigned us an operation."

"I know, she came to me in person to tell me herself just a few minutes ago."

Uwe nods. "Yeah. She was impressed with how you handled yourself in that last op. She thinks you show a lot of promise."

"Well I did go into an operation with no weapons. Speaking of which, Elfy I need my wrist blades back."

"Oh right." Elfriede tossed the blades to Connar, who caught them and reattached them to his arms. "I gave those a try, they're really useful. But a little hard to use."

"I'll make you a pair if you'd like Elfy."

"Hey!" Mattias drew Connar's attention. "How did you get those things?"

"They were my mothers, she got them from her father. She said they were for when a boy won't take no for an answer."

"Did she teach you how to use them?" Asked Uwe.

"No. I found them when I went into hiding, had to teach myself."

"How did that go?"

Connar looked at his hands and smiled. "Let's just say I cut my fingers a lot in the first year." Connar finished putting the wrist blades back and extended them. "There we go, anyway." The thief retracted the blades. "what the operation going to be? She said something about getting something back here."

"In the next operation, we'll be acting as her outriders."

"So what does that mean?" Asked Mattias.

Elfriede rubbed the right side of her head. "Basically we're to intercept any hostiles that try to stop her and her team."

"Anyone know what this thing were delivering is?" Asked Connar.

Uwe shook his head. "You guess is as good as mine. She wasn't exactly in a talkative mood."

"Maybe Alice can tell us, she seems to have a way with that lap dog."

"This sounds like some pretty shady shaz..." Mattias glanced to Connar, expecting the thief to hit him. Though Connar seemed more interested in the up coming operation.

"This is Natalie's op. She'll have her reasons, and they'll be good one. But brace yourselves, we could be in for a rough ride."

Connar crossed his arms. "Well, anything to do with Natalie will be a rough ride." Mattias snicked and Connar slapped him in the back of the head. "Grow up."

"Times up." Uwe stands up, followed by everyone else. "The operations gonna begin soon, everyone go get ready."

The sinners stepped outside, Connar tapped Elfriede on the shoulder. "Can we talk?"

"After we get this next operation, I promise."

"You said that last time."

Uwe stopped and stood between the two. "Whatever this thing we're trying to get back to our con is will hopefully turn the tide of this war we're in. you two can talk all you want then, okay?"

Connar signed with frustration. "Fine."

...

Down in the transport bay Natale, Alice, and Leon were all checking their weapons. "Make sure you both have enough ammo."

"Understood. Alice, how's you will'o?"

Alice slid a clip into her assault rifle. "I'll be okay as long as I don't use it too much."

"Then don't use your will'o unless I say so, understand?"

"Yes Natey, but are you sure we should use Connar for this?" Asked Alice. "You just saw him and what state he's in."

"Listen to me Alice." Natalie loaded her sniper rifle. "You need to stop concerning yourself with people like Connar, I've seen people like him. They repel against the system and either die or go down to code one, never being more then a strain on our panopticon."

"But, okay, What's our mission?"

Natalie turned to Leon. "Anyone listening?"

"There's always someone listening, I'll block them for our privacy."

"Thank you Leon. What we're getting is something called the casket, we don't know much more past that but it can product unfathomable amounts of will'o."

"And we can change the flow of our war with it?"

"Yes, that's why we must get it. And we need to use every resource need to get it, even the 'unstable' ones."

The lift doors open, Connar, Uwe, Elfriede, and Mattias came out and walked towards the their transport. Natalie snapped her fingers. "We should get going as well Alice."

"Okay."

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	53. Common enemy

Chapter. 54

The transport opened and the team was greeted by a powerful sand storm. Connar put on his goggles and drew his assault rifle as he ran out. The others followed after him but the flying sand was slowing their progress.

"Everyone wait in the transport till this storm settles, I'll handle this." Connar pulled up his scarf to cover his face.

The enemy sinners were having trouble spotting their targets. With the sound of the storm covering his movements Connar slowly crept on the enemy and killed them with his hidden blades.

The sand storm was starting to lighten up. The remaining sinners were able to see Connar killing their allies, they came out of cover and opened fire. The thief created a thorn wall to protect himself.

Connar heard bullets coming from behind him, his team was returning fire on the enemy, they tried to run but were quickly shot down.

"You okay?" asked Elfriede.

"I'm fine. Thank you Elfy, everyone."

"Wow, Connar thanked someone." Laughed Mattias, Connar extended his wrist blades and Mattias stopped.

The sand storm cleared and Natalie's group was in sight, Alice and Leon were at her side and two biped abductor's were behind her. One of the abductor's was carrying a cargo crate over its shoulder.

Connar removed his goggles and turned to Uwe. "So do we get to know what we risked our lives for yet?"

Leon stopped and Alice turned to him. "What is it?"

"Enemy approaching. Four o'clock. Type... Unknown?" The accessory was confused.

"Someone's on our tail?" Asked Mattias.

In what remained of the flying sand an abductor was appearing through it, a biped mode with miniguns on its arms and missile launchers on its shoulders. Once it was in full view a man stood in front of the abductor, he wore jeans boots and a dress shirt with the top half unbuttoned, all in grey. He had a red thorn and held a katana in his left hand and what looked like a pelt on his right leg.

"That's..." Natalie was surprised and panicking. The man held up two fingers to his fore head. "It's Abel and Red Rage!"

The man pointed towards the group and the abductor opened fire with all of its weapons.

"Get down!" Connar and Uwe punched the ground to call up a thorn wall from the sand.

"Protect the casket!" Shouted Natalie.

"What the-?!" Mattias watched three missiles destroy the abductor next to him.

Red Rage jumped at Mattias and punched him, sending the sinner over the thorn wall.

"Mattias!" Shouted Elfriede. As another abductor fell she ran to fight the known as Abel.

"Elfy!" Connar drew his sword and chased after her.

"Eat this!" Elfriede threw a punched but Abel blocked with his katana.

"Huh?" Abel lowered his weapons to look at Elfriede. "How very unimpressive." Abel swung his sword, Elfriede held up her brass knuckles to block. The force fro Abel's swing send Elfriede flying into the sky.

"Elfriede!" Shout Uwe.

Abel threw his thorn to grab Uwe's leg the hurled him into the air to crash into Elfriede. Uwe fell back to the ground with Elfriede on top of him.

"Elfy! Uwe!" Connar ran back to check on the two.

Alice tried her luck and ran at Abel. The man grin and raised his hand to his forehead A purple light shined on Red Rage's horn. Abel spun to one knee and swung his arm, Red Rage launched a beam of energy.

The beam hit behind Alice and caused a massive explosion, Everyone was hurled into the sand. Natalie saw Red Rage pick up the container, she crawled to her short sword when Abel stepped on her hand.

"Are you quite finished?" Abel looked down at Nataile with grey eyes filled with an emotions Natalie has seen before. Madness and bloodlust. "Good. Then I'll be taking this. It's clearly wasted on the likes of you."

Abel put his Sword over his back and was greet by the sound of clashing metal. He looked behind him and saw Alice with spear pressed against his sword, will'o flaring off her eyes. "I'll kill you! For everything you've done!"

"Hmm... Interesting." Abel spun and swung his sword into Alice spear, the girl was knocked a few steps back but recovered and caught Abel's next attack. "That's a little more like it!" Abel pushed against Alice shoved her spear's head away.

"Like this!" Alice struke Abel in the chest with the other end of her spear the punched Abel in the jaw.

"Very good!" Abel was enjoy his fight, he raised his sword and brought it straight down.

Alice caught the blade in the crack of her spear head, she forced it down then backhanded Abel in the head, fallowed by a kick to the ribs.

Abel pulled his sword out and swung for the right. Alice caught the sword again, this time Abel punched her in the nose. "Nice eyes little girl."

"Shut up!" Alice swung and lunged her spear, each hit Abel dodged and blocked. "I'm sick of everyone thinking I'm some weak little girl." The two clashed their weapons into a stand off. "I'll kill you and prove I don't need protecting!"

Abel grinned darkly. "You know, you just might make the grade for the great transformation after all."

Alice flinched when she heard 'great transformation' which gave Abel an opening. He pushed Alice back and Red Rage punched her, sending Alice sliding back to Natalie.

**"Get down here! I'm not done yet!"**

"Alice, calm yourself!" Alice looked at Natalie and could feel her will'o spiking, she put her hands on her face and took deep breaths to turn off her will'o abilities.

"That's enough for today, I'll remember your face girl, we must do this again sometime." Abel used his thorn to get on his abductor's shoulder.

"Abel wait!" Cried Natalie. "You know what's inside that container, don't you? Do you really mean to take it for yourself?"

"Oh, but of course! How else-" A white latched on to Abel's back and pulled him down. Abel flipped and landed on his feet and was kicked in the head by Connar.

Abel rolled back to his feet and held up his sword to block Connar's chainsaw. "You're gonna pay, you hear me?! you're gonna pay!" Will'o burst out of Connar's eyes, covering them blue flames.

"You too? How very-"

Connar kneed Abel in the chest and punched in the mouth. "Shut you stupid face, you bastard!"

Abel slashed at Connar who blocked each hit. "Just like the girl, tell me, is this... eye thing new for your panopticon?"

"Not about to tell you!" Connar and Abel locked their swords, the thief moved left and Abel stumbled past him. Connar swung his sword but Abel blocked it. Connar extended his hidden blade and stabbed Abel in the back.

Abel went down and Red Rage grabbed Connar with its free hand, crushing him. "Dirty little trick you did there." Abel stood up, using a will'o pad to heal his wound.

Abel held up his hand and Red Rage squeezed Connar tighter. The thief slowly raised his head to Abel and was pushing back against Red Rage's hand. "RRRRAAAAHHHHHH!" The abductor's hand was opening, he was almost free when Abel point away and Red Rage threw the sinner into a rock formation.

Abel grappled back to his machines shoulder. "Tell that boy I'll remember his face as well Now if you'll excuse me I need to take this back." Abel grinned once more. "How else will you fools ever get to where you truly need to be?" Red Rage turned and walked away as it carried the container. "Be patient, little ones. It won't be long now!"

Alice took out her assault rifle and aimed at Abel. Natalie stnd up and pointed the gun away. "No! You could hit the container."

"But we can't-"

"We can and we will Alice. We have other matters to attend too."

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	54. What we learned

Chapter. 55

"Aaahh!" Connar awoke and shot up.

"Whoa!" Alice fell back on the floor. "Glad to see you're awake now."

Connar looked around and found himself back in his cell. "How did I get here?"

"Leon carried you back."

"What happened with Abel?"

"He took the container. Natalie and I tended to the wounded, Leon laid you down so I should get a look at you." Connar looked down to see his shirt and jacket were off. "You're in great shape."

"Climbing and running form accessories will do that."

"Alice's was flustered when she saw you're chest, her first word was 'wow'."

"Leon!" Alice started pounding her fist on the accessory.

"How badly was I hurt?"

Alice stopped and spun back to the thief. "You weren't. When I got to you will'o was glowing around your body, somehow your will'o healed you."

"That's something I guess. So that was Abel, and now he has the casket." Connar punched his bed. "Damn it! The bastard was toying with us!"

"Connar calm down."

"Red Rage. That damn machine was giving the advantage, next time, I'll kill him."

The world turned to purple and Aries appeared in the cell. "Ooh! You almost had it!"

Connar stood up and Alice pushed him back down. "Sit, you need rest."

"You fought Abel too. Worry about yourself."

"I wasn't thrown into a rock. Aries, what is the casket?"

"That casket's important, you know. Very important, in fact. It's what's going to lead you to Simeon."

"Could you be any more cryptic?" Asked Connar.

Aries just shook her head. "Well the thing is, it's no use by itself."

"What else does it need?"

"A very special will'o power. From a very special kind of person."

"Beatrice."

Alice turned to Connar. "What?"

"Aries here once told me to save Beatrice, that she was needed for the great transformation. And now we need this casket, connect the dots and it says we need to get Beatrice to the casket."

Aries clapped her hands. "Bravo Connar, guess you're not the brute I thought you were." Connar put up his middle finger and Aries vanished.

"Are you two okay?" Leon asked once the world returned to normal. "You've staring at the wall for a whole minute."

"We're fine, just thinking." Said Alice.

"I just got a message from Mattias is asking for you two."

Alice patted Connar's back. "You up to get some air?"

"Better then staring at the walls." Connar stood up and put on his jacket, not bothering to button it. "Mind getting the door?" He asked while attaching his wrist blades.

Leon opened the cell and three stepped out.

"Hey!" Shouted Mattias From below.

"Shall we?" Alice waved her hand to the stairs.

"You two go, I go express."

"What?" To answer Alice Connar leaped over the rail, the thief landed on his feet and left hand. "Are you mad!?"

"Only on Mondays." Connar walked to Mattias. "What's going on?"

"You think you could get a shirt on first?"

"How about you tell what you want before I lose interest."

"Okay... Whaddya think that thing Abel stole was."

"The Casket. As for what it does, I've got nothing."

Mattias nods. "Yeah, that's what Natalie called it. Maybe we should ask Natalie about it. She must know more, right?"

"I can do that." Said Alice.

"What are you three talking about?" Beatrice arrived to join the group. She looked at Connar and clover her mouth. "Oh my."

"We were talking about the casket, the thing Abel took." Answered Connar. "And stop staring at me."

"We ah, we still have no idea exactly what it is, do we?"

Leon placed his hand on Alice back, the girl looked up to him as he shook his head.

"Not a clue. I think I heard that Abel guy saying something about using it to lead humanity, though..." Said Mattias.

_"Wait, it needs Beatrice to work, right?"_ Thought Connar. "You know anything Beatrice?"

"I am afraid not. But let us examine the facts. A powerful abductor was involved, I believe?"

"Yeah. Now that I think about now, how was he controlling it? Red Rage was it's name."

"Red Rage?"

Mattias nods. "Yup. And Abel controlled the damn thing like it was a part of him. That shaz is... freaky."

"Controlling it?" Beatrice gasped in shock. "This sounds like a special abductor indeed."

"I could give you a few more details if you like." Julien found and joined in the teams chat.

"Thank you." Replied Alice. "What do you know about it?"

"A little. Red Rage is one of a group of ancient abductors known as the three prototypes. We know they're supposedly being kept in Hourai, but beyond that, our intel is pretty hazy. Mainly because no one has come into contact with them and survived."

"Uwe said something about the three prototypes. what are they exactly?"

"It's said all abductor designs are based on the prototypes. Thought they do also have some unique features that our engineers can't seem to replicate, even using the very latest technology."

"And yet Rage ripped through the other abductor like it like they were made of paper. Isn't a prototype meant to be a base to build something better? Why are all of the abductors worse then the first ones made?"

"Well Red Rage had a damage neutralization system."

"A what?"

"Neutralization. The property immunity, in this case anything harmful."

"I know what it means, what I'm asking is how?"

"We not know how it works." Answered Julien.

Connar sighed and pinched his nose. "Okay let's try something else, the way Abel could control Red Rage, how?"

"Its ability to link directly with a sinner's consciousness. The link is made at a subconscious level, enabling instantaneous, ultra precise response."

"How does it work?" Asked Alice.

"It's a system that basically puts a moving fortress at the mercy of a sinner's whim. But it's not for the faint hearted. The feedback noise is too much for some."

Mattias hangs his head. "Shaz... No wonder we couldn't stop the guy."

Beatrice on the other hand was amazed. "Incredible... I suppose the volitional charged would be transmitted via a will'o stream. But then how would the data be processed?" The girl looked around at the puzzled faces of her friends. "Oh, ah... I do apologies. I sometimes get a little carried away."

Connar thought about what Beatrice and looked back to Julien. "Where are the other two?"

"Hmm. Good question... Some think there may actually be four altogether, while others say they're not individual abductors at all but parts that join to form a bigger whole."

"So nothing known for sure."

"I prefer to think that there are still a wealth of theories to be explored. You two should count yourselves lucky to have seen Red Rage up close. I'd love to have had the chance."

"Me too!" Beatrice perked up. "To see it move, and to get a look at the composition of its armor plating up close would have been-"

"Alright, alright!" Mattias had enough. "I get it, I get it!" Connar glared at him. "Well, I don't get it, but... I get it. First things first, we need to find out more about the casket. Let's go talk to Natalie."

"Natalie?" Asked Beatrice. "I saw heron this level of citizen's promenade only a short while ago."

"Then let's go see what she has to say! It's gotta be better then standing around here talking tech with you nerds!"

Leon punched Mattias in the back of the head. "Be nice to nerds, you work for them."

Mattias rubbed his head. "Okay sorry, so let's go. Last one to find the ice queen is a rotten egg!"

"You're on!" Alice and Mattias took off in a run but Leon held his arm out to stop Mattias then chased after Alice.

"No fair!" Mattias got up and ran to catch up.

Beatrice was about to follow them but Connar grabbed her arm. "I still have some question for you." Connar turned to Julien. "Both of you."

"What is it?"

Connar let go. "From what you were saying it sounded like you had an idea of how Abel was controlling that abductor. Tell me, what would it take for me to do that?"

"What-"

"You heard me. How can I control an abductor of my own?"

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	55. Machine shopping

Chapter. 56

"Well? Talk to her." Mattias pushed Alice ahead as they approached Natalie.

"Fine. Honesty, she's not as scary as you think." Alice tapped the officer on the back. "Hello Miss Woo, could we have a minute?"

Natalie spins around to three. "Ugh. What do you want, worms?"

Leon gave slight bow. "We have come seeing more information on the object Abel has stole, the casket as it was called."

"I'm not authorized to answer that question. And you are not to make any further inquiries into the matter. That's an order." She turns to Mattias. "I am glad you're here, though. I'm putting up the code 6 exam, make sure you tell those other two, Beatrice and Connar."

Mattias pumps up his arm and took off running. "Shaz yeah! Code 6! Finally!"

Alice smiled softly as Mattias left. "So when is my code 7 exam."

"Not now, you're not ready for it yet."

"But why!?"

"I would like to know as well." Said Leon.

Natalie placed her hand on Alice's shoulder. "I want you out of being a sinner, but I also want you safe."

"But-"

"Go with Mattias and make sure the others taking the exam don't get killed. That's an order Alice."

"Fine..." Alice turned and walked away.

"Natey, I know you're trying to keep Alice safe but you'll need to let her go and learn on her own. Keeping her under you're constant watch will one day make her resent you."

"That will be all Leon." Natalie just walked away and Leon fallowed after Alice.

...

Connar followed Beatrice and Julien to a lab, the room's walls were covered in writing. Big computers each with data on different machines. "Nice work site you got here."

"Thank you. Here's-"

"So what's the first step?"

Julien tipped at a computer. "I'll bring up some abductors."

The monitor showed several abductors. Connar looked the robots over. "That one." Connar point to the spider modal. "That one will nicely."

"The type S?" Julien was a little shocked.

"There a problem with it?"

"Well..."

Connar crossed his arms. "Let me guess, I need to find one and bring it in?"

"Yes, and you'll need to bring it in without completely breaking it."

"Shouldn't be too hard." Connar cracked his knuckles. "If it means cutting Abel down I'll down whatever it takes."

"We'll should get started with a neural interface." Beatrice clapped her hands. "This is so exciting! I can't wait!"

"You're gonna have too, I'll need to get the thing first."

"The code 6 exam has been issued, please sigh up at once." Announced Connar and Beatrice's accessories. "Duty calls, Julien get things ready on you're end by the time I get back."

"What? But I don't-" Connar left the lab without hearing what Julien had to say.

Connar and Beatrice headed for the transport bay, there they found Mattias waiting for them. "What kept you? Code 6 isn't going to just hand itself to us."

"You even know what the mission is?"

Alice arrived as well to join them. "Hey guys, got room for one more?"

Beatrice tilted her head. "Are you already code 6?"

"Yes, Miss Woo is sending me to look after you all on this."

"Damn lap dog."

"Hey, watch you're mouth!"

"Or what?" The two fallen stared each other down.

Leon had to step in and separate them. "Enough. Save it for the operation."

Connar straightened his jacket. "Alright, We're fight a spider abductor. Try to beat it with without completely destroying it. Okay?"

"Why?" Asked Alice and Leon.

"Cause I'm making it my own."

"What?"

Connar rubbed the side of his head. "I'm going to take the abductor and control it."

"Really?!" Alice started thinking as she boarded the transport. _"If I got an abductor of my own, would Natey finally believe that I can take care of myself?"_

"Dude you're gonna do what that Abel guy did?!" Mattias couldn't believe what he just heard.

Connar takes a seat on the far side of the transport. "It's the only way. If Red Rage really is indestructible then we can't take away Abel's advantage, so we'll just have to level the field by bringing in one for me."

"How will having an abductor help you if you can't harm Abel's?" Asked Leon.

"I don't have to destroy Red Rage, just get it away with something so I can fight Abel one on one."

"A bold plan."

Connar crossed his arms. "From what I know it sounds like everyone runs from Abel because of his reputation alone. When has he had a real fight? Someone who will stand up to him?"

Alice giggles. "You just sounded like some of those people who think they can change the world."

Connar grins to Alice. "That's all it takes to start change, one person needs to stand up and say, 'enough.'."

...

The sinner arrived at the factory sector, rain poured down so hard it created a fog over the area. Though the fog the S type abductor was steadily coming into view.

Connar drew his chainsaw sword. "Remember, I need it in relatively one piece."

"I'll try." Beatrice loaded her laser pistol.

"No promise." Mattias drew his assault rifle.

"Then just stay back!" Connar charged the abductor and everyone followed. The spider abductor rapidly spun and launched webs all around it. Beatrice and Mattias were caught in the webs, Alice tried to free them while continued towards his prize.

Once the spider stopped spinning Connar slid under the abductor and thrusted his sword into it, then slowly cut it open.

The abductor fired missiles from it's legs then slid left, the missiles flew up then turned back down to where they were fired.

"Connar run!" Cried Leon.

The thief looked up and saw the missiles. He used his thorn to latch on to the spider machine and pulled himself to it, evading the missiles.

Alice and Leon freed their friends and took out their guns. "Take it down!" Alice commanded. Her and the others opened fire on the abductor, riddling it's front legs with bullets.

Connar climbs onto the robots back and cuts into both of its web launchers with his wrist blades. The abductor shacks and removes the missile launchers, exposing it's real legs.

The S type begins to jump around launching webs everywhere.

"Everyone to me!" Alice charged her thorn as her friends gathered. She created a thorn thicket to protect them from the webs as they fell. When it finally stopped jumping Alice activated her will'o.

Connar was thrown off after the abductor's bouncing. As the thief sat up to regain his senses the spider was upon him, it raised it front legs and Connar couldn't charged his white thorn fast enough.

Alice swung her spear and slashed the abductor's legs off, as it reeled back Alice threw her spear in the center of the machine. The spear pieced the abductor and exploded with will'o, destroying it.

Alice released her will'o and offered a hand to Connar. "Sorry."

Connar took her hand and stood up. "At least it's not a total wreck."

Leon got a reading of another abductor on its way. "New enemy incoming! T type abductor!"

Connar spun his sword. "Then let's wrap this up quickly."

"Wait!" Alice grabbed Connar's arm. "You're trying to get an abductor to control right?" The thief nods. "I want this one, please don't completely destroy it."

"You know T type is the tiger modal, right?"

Alice smiles brightly. "I like that modal." The T type abductor climbed over the factory equipment and leaped onto the battlefield, roaring for a challenge.

Connar and Alice rushed to face the machine while Beatrice and Mattias looked on. "What are they doing?" asked Mattias.

"Oh no." Leon ran to join the two fallen sinners.

"What's the plan?" Asked Alice.

The abductor dashed at them and the sinners dove to the sides to dodge. "Cut open its sides and spill out its will'o! That'll get it to stop moving!" Connar grappled onto the robots side and slashed it with his sword.

Alice did the same and stabbed it with her spear. the tiger floated up and turned to the other sinners, a blue formed over it head. "No you don't!" Alice hung from her spear and drew her gun, firing the whole clip into it chest and creating a will'o leak.

Connar used his right wrist blade to climb higher up the abductors back, then used his left to get higher, and his sword as foot hold. Connar was on the tiger's back and stabbed its wing with his wrist blades and cut it off.

With the loss of one wing the tiger abductor fell to the ground.

"Jump!" Shouted Connar.

Alice saw Leon and leaped towards him. Leon held up his arms and caught Alice, falling backwards in the process.

Connar threw his thorn to at ground at an angle to remove most of the force of the fall, thief hit the ground and rolled to his feet.

The fall cracked the abductor's will'o pod open, will'o pored out of it nonstop until the abductor ceased to function.

"You're insane." Leon put Alice down and stood. "I think Connar maybe rubbing off on you."

"Now why would you say such a mean thing?" Alice put her fists on her hips and pretended to pout.

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	56. Slow anger burns

Chapter. 57

Alice and Connar stood over a railing, watching a group of citizens working to repair the abductors they brought back to the panopticon.

"What's the damage?" Connar asked Julien as he approached them.

"On the T type, the will'o pod is going to have to repaired, the wing will need to be replaced, and a few leaks need patches."

"I didn't think it would be that bad." Alice felt a little guilty for making so much work for Julien.

"Oh don't even get me started with the S type. The front legs, the web launchers, the the armor. Almost everything will have to be replaced."

Connar patted the citizen on the head. "Fine, use any and all of the resources I've got to get this thing working again." The thief looked down to see Beatrice happily working on repairing Alice's abductor. "At least she'll be happy."

"Connar, you should return to your cell for the results of your code exam." Said Leon.

"Alright fine. See you all in a bit." Connar let go of the rail and walked to the lift.

"Is it just me or is Connar starting to be more... Approachable."

"That's good, isn't it?" Asked Alice.

...

Connar returned to his cell, just as he sits down on his bed Percy appears on the screen. "I have the results of the code 6 exam. Are you ready? Really, really ready? Here Goes... You failed!"

"Wait what?!" Connar stood up. "You want run that by me again bear?!"

"What a shame... Although I did have a feeling it might be too much for you."

"I beat your damn abductors, not just beat them, captured them too. I passed your test!"

The cell was silent until Percy spoke up again. "Just joking! the truth is-"

In Connar's anger his other half took over and punched the monitor. The accessory grabbed his arm and Connar cut its head off with his wrist blades.

The world turned purple and Aries appeared, her hands were covered in will'o and she pushed Connar down on his bed. The will'o subsided Connar's and returned to sinner to normal.

"You okay?"

"That damn bear..."

"It's getting worse. You need to get a better grip on your anger or it will be the death of you and who know who else."

"I can't control it. This anger, it won't leave." Connar stood up, he looked at his hands and cliched them. "When I get my abductor, I'll kill Abel."

"You think you can control an abductor with a clouded mind? Actually two minds fight for control."

"Then what would you have me do?!" Connar felt his head hurt and raised his hands to it.

Aries touched Connar's forehead with one finger and washed away Connar's pain. "Dracula is getting stronger, if this keeps up I can't keep pushing him back down."

Connar sat down again, breathing heavily. "Then what do I do Aries?"

"Just keep fighting for now, I'll see what Simeon wants to do." The girl sat next to Connar, placing her arm over his back. "Don't forget about the casket. Give up on it, and it will stay closed forever."

"To open it I'll need to get Beatrice to it. To do that I'll have to get through Abel first. To do that I'll need an abductor to get Red Rage away for him."

Aries smiled at Connar and faded away. As the changed back Connar laid on his bed to sleep.

...

In a dream Connar was walking down a hall with someone at his side. The person was darkened, making it impossible for Connar to make up who they were.

_**"You sure their ready?"** _The man asked.

_**"Absolutely. My Risen are the next step in human evolution."**  
_

**_"We'll see."_**

_"What's going on?"_

The two arrived in a training hall where Rosawyn stood waiting with ten accessories all armed with short swords. _**"Okay Rosawyn, time to show us what you've gained."**_ The woman took a deep breath and will'o flowed around her body._**  
**_

Rosawyn held up her spear and charged into battle. She ducked under the first accessory's sword and stabbed it in the chest. Rosawyn took the sword and threw it into another accessory. The third accessory swung its sword from the side. Rosawyn grabbed the machine's arm and cut it off with her spear, then threw it into the fourth.

_**"She's doing quite well."**_ The man said.

Rosawyn used her thorn to retrieve her spear and launcher it into the fifth and slashed the sixth as it returned to her hands. She threw her thorn at an accessory and swung it around into another one, sending them both crashing into the ground. _**"Die!"**_ Rosawyn leaped onto her downed enemies and impaled then both and sliced them in half.

Connar could feel the body he was in getting nerves, the thief watched Rosawyn kill the accessories and saw himself. Killing sinners, accessories, citizens, and P and S officers. The death he had caused was weighting down on him to the point of making him physical sick.

Rosawyn started to laugh as she sliced open the last accessory. She turned to the two and dashed towards them, Hate filled her will'o eyes.

Connar froze but his body drew a katana, he swung the sword and broke Rosawyn's spear. Connar's body spun the sword and struke the woman in the head with the back of the blade.

_**"What was that?"**_

Connar sheathed his sword. _**"Seems there's still a few things to iron out."**_

_**"You expect me to let this slide?"**_

_**"It's not finished yet ****Lucius!"**_

_"Lucius again? Who is he?"  
_

**_"Really? For what I've just seen Your will'o experiments turned her into blood crazed beast. Your research is going to be the end of humanity."_**

Everything turned white, when it all faded back to normal Connar had dropped his sword and held his right hand on his side trying to stop the blood flow.

_"What's going now?"_ He looked up to the shadowed man holding blood stained short sword in one hand and an assault rifle in the other.

_**"Your madness ends here Devarja."**_

_**"Never! My research will secure On High's place above the world!"**_

_**"You'll lead On High and humanity to ruin!"**_

_**"Is it not humanity's place to keep growing and learn? Pushing our limits?"**_

_**"Poetic excuses!" **_The shadow shot Connar in the chest, he fell on his knees then collapsed to the ground. _**"The Fallen die with you."**_

_**"No." **_Connar's body pushed itself back up, will'o swirling around him. **_"My Risen will be the next step in human evolution!"_**

Everything turned black and Connar awoke in his cell. "What was that? What's happening? Why is this happening? What's going on?!" Connar stood up and punched his monitor. The screen broke and his fist was bleeding again. "i need to get out of here."

Connar opened his cell door and ran to the lift, once inside it Connar headed down to the warren.

...

Meanwhile Alice and Leon were going to see Natalie in her apartment. "Hello Natey!" Alice stepped inside.

Once the door closed Natalie ran to Alice and slapped his across the face. "What were you think!?"

"Ow!" Alice rubbed her face and Leon moved her hand to get a better look.

"You think I wouldn't find out? You and Connar trying to control an abductor, do you know if that will even work?"

"I have to try, we have to get that casket back-"

"You leave that to the other sinners. I'm trying to protect you but you keep doing stupid things."

"I don't need you to baby me Natey..."

"What did you say?" Alice hung her head. "You're not going get an abductor and I'm not going to let you try for the code 7 exam until you grow up."

Alice covered her face with her hands and ran out in tears.

"She's never grow up if you don't let go of her leash." Natalie swung her hand to slap Leon but the accessory caught her arm. "Alice is not one of your sinners, you'll have to let her go out and make mistakes. She may get hurt but she can't become a better person if you keep her like this." Leon pushed her into a sofa. "Would her parents like it that you treat her this way?" With that last statement Leon walked out.

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	57. Clues of the past

Chapter. 58

Connar sat on a ledge in the warren looking up at the sky. The thief glanced down at his hand, still dripping with blood.

"You need that looked at?" Alice stood over Connar.

Connar sighed and held up his hand and Alice used her thorn to heal the wound. "Thank you."

"Of course, mind if I sit with you?"

"Sure." Alice sat down with Connar and looked to the sky.

"What are you looking for?"

"I don't know."

"Then why are you looking?"

"I don't know."

"Hello." Beatrice found the two. "I was wondering whether I might ask a favor of you."

"What do you need?" Connar and Alice stood up and wiped the dirt off.

"Well, I have been thinking about what Julien said... About the woman who often issued my father with operations. She was a level 6 sinner, was she not?"

"Right Kasumi, shall we go?" Asked Alice.

Connar placed his hands on his hips. "Why haven't you gone to see her yourself?"

Beatrice bruched her hair down trying to cover her face. "Yes... Well, I thought I should probably go and meet this Kasumi, but I suddenly became terribly frightened by the prospect of discovering the truth about my father."

"So you got scared?"

"I know it's awfully childish of me... but will you come with me? I am sure their relationship was entirely innocent, but I just... I cannot quite bring myself to go alone."

"Fine." Connar rubbed the top of her head. "Cheer up, it's what you've been looking for." Connar turned and headed back to the lift.

Alice smiled as she was glad that Connar was making progress to be a better person. She looked back to Beatrice who held her hands on her head. "You okay?"

"It can't be..."

"Beatrice?"

"I'm sorry. Shall we go?"

...

The three arrived in the code 6 level. Connar spotted a woman in a grey shirt dark grey pants and black gloves, Connar tapped her shoulder. "You Kasumi?"

The woman turned to Connar, she had brown hair and eyes behind a pair of glasses. "And what if I am?"

"Hey Beatrice! I found her!"

Alice and Beatrice to Connar, the girl got a look at the woman and Beatrice bowed. "Miss Kasumi, my name is Beatrice."

"Beatrice?" Kasumi thought for a moment. "You mean you're-"

Connar snapped his fingers. "She's Cesare's little girl. You know where he is?"

"Cesare... Now there's a name I haven't heard in while. Although I'd always suspected someone might come asking after him in the end."

"Real heart warming, now what do you know about him?"

"Connar!" Alice raised her hand to smack Connar but the thief extended his hidden blade. "Anyway. Did you know him well?"

"Oh yes, I knew him well. we were inseparable back in our younger days. That's a long time ago, of course."

Beatrice covered her mouth. "I-I see..."

"She hasn't said they were an item Beatrice, calm down." Replied Connar.

"It's been an age since I last saw him, though. And I haven't the foggiest where he is, if that's what you were hoping to find out." Kasumi turned to Connar. "And no we weren't together."

"So what did you two do together?" Asked Alice.

"I used to get him to do a lot of operations for me back when I was a citizen."

Beatrice still wasn't sure. "There really was nothing... else between you? No particular... reason why he was signing up for all your operations?"

Kasumi broke out laughing.

"I'd take that as a no." Said Connar.

"Oh, there's no need to worry your pretty little head about that, my dear. It was all entirely innocent."

"Okay, so what did you two do together?"

Kasumi's expression saddened. "I suppose you could say we shared a dream. There was a whole group of us who felt the same." She looked at Beatrice. "Your father believed in it so strongly that he left you and your sister behind because of it. But he never did manage to make it happen... and that was that."

Alice tilted her head. "What was the dream?"

"You really want to know? What am I saying of course you do!" Kasumi sighed. "Fine, but not here. Let's go somewhere else a bit more private. There's something I want to show you."

"Where to then?"

"The level 6 cell garden."

"Then lead on miss."

...

Kasumi laid the three to the garden entrance, she used a passcode and opened the way. "Be careful, there's going to be some accessories patrolling."

Alice and Beatrice looked at Connar who sighed. "Fine, you all stay back."

Two rooms in And Connar spotted the first accessory, the robot looked around and went for the next room. Connar ran after it and stabbed the machine in the back on the neck with his wrist blade.

The next room had three doors, Connar waited until an accessory can from the left, it looked away and Connar stabbed it in the head when it turned back to him.

The thief ran into the next room and waited, an accessory opened the door and stepped in. Connar hit the accessory in the chest with his elbow and stabbed in the throat twice.

Connar opened the next door and found, Connar walked up the steps and stopped at the corner. He found another set of stairs and accessory overlooking them.

The accessory turned and Connar used his thorn to get to the roof and drop down on the machine, stabbing it in the neck. Connar looked back to see the women were still following him. "Well come on then."

The four arrived in a large room with windows showing giant computers. "We're here, so want is it?"

"Wait here." Kasumi went into a door on the other side of the room.

"What do you think it is?" Asked Alice.

"Who knows. We'll see in a minute if sure."

"Hey Connar?"

"Yes?"

"Why are you so nice now?"

"What?"

"Well, it's just that..."

Connar looked down. "You think I'm a monster, a demon."

"Not anymore, I don't."

"And why is that? Were you the first one to call be that, even before my will'o power?"

"Because... I'm a monster too." Alice fidgeted with her hands. "I'm a fallen because of my mother, she came from On High and met my dad."

"Was her name, Rosawyn?"

Alice's eyes widened. "How did you know?"

"Aries said something about it once." Connar lied. "As you were saying?"

"Oh, my parents became good friends then lovers. My father was friends with Natalie, after they died she looked after me."

"So that's why she's so loving on you."

Alice nods. "Yes."

"What happened then? You learned how your mom and dad died and swore revenge?"

"I did at first, but Natalie told me that revenge wouldn't solve anything and that it wasn't something to die for."

"You always do what Natalie says?"

"No." Connar folded his arms. "Yes."

Thief just shook his head. "You are the image of the obedient slave the con want all of us to be."

"Shut up."

"Tell me one time you did something without someone's approval." Connar raised his hand to his chin. "Come to think of it, each time I took my code exam you took the one above me. So why are you still code six?"

Alice hung her head, not wanting to answer. "Natalie said-"

"Natalie said this, Natalie said that, Natalie said don't do this, Natalie said be like this, Natalie said be her lap dog."

"Shut up."

"A lap dog's lap dog."

"Shut up!"

"No, a lap dog goes out to do things for it's master. So that would make you Natalie's toy, her doll."

"I said shut up!"

"Or what, the doll will get mad? Lose control? Who are you to tell me to control my will'o when you can't even do it?"

Alice drew her spear and pointed it at Connar. "You say another word..."

Connar placed his hand on the side of the spear and pushed it aside. "You won't do it, know why? You don't have a back bone. You need someone to tell you you're doing the right thing because you don't want decide for yourself. Cause that would mean seeing that the world isn't in black and white, just different shades of grey."

"Then what should I do?!" Alice threw down her spear. "What would you do?!"

The opened and Kasumi returned with a man in a white suit, with the same hair and eye color as Beatrice.

Beatrice and Connar were shocked by what they saw.

"Father!"

"Uncle?!"

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	58. Family

Chapter. 59

"I... am... not... your... father... or... uncle..." The man in the white suit answered. "I... am... Cesare's... accessory..."

"Oh my...!" Beatrice was was starting to cry as her hope was shattered.

"I'll bet that gave you a shock, didn't it?" Kasumi laughed.

"That was a sick joke bitch." Connar cringed and extended his wrist blades. "I should kill you just for that!"

"Connar please-"

"No!" He shouted at Alice. "Beatrice hasn't seen her father in years and she brings this... thing out for a laugh!"

"Connar." Beatrice breathed out. "Please, if he can learn anything about my father please don't hurt anyone!" She spoke with fear as much as demand.

Connar retracted only his right blade. "Fine. So why does this thing look like my uncle?"

"How do you know this is your uncle?"

"I forgot what he looked like, but when I saw this accessory the memory of him came back to me, as clear as day! This is my uncle, or at least what he looks like."

Alice pieces everything to together. "You and Beatrice are, cousins? You are form On High!"

Connar looks at Alice then Beatrice. "That's something I still don't know. But, looks like Beatrice and I are family." No one spoke as they let this new information sank in. Connar turned back to Kasumi. "So why does this machine look like Cesare?"

"This wasn't my doing if that's what you're thinking. He made it himself as a decoy. Then one day, he up and disappeared, and this creepy fellow came wandering back without him."

"So you hid it here?" Asked Alice.

"The authorities would definitely dismantle it if they found it, so I decided to keep it hidden here. Until the time was right."

"You mean when someone came looking for him." Answered Connar.

"Well, Cesare gave his accessory something pretty important to look after, listen."

_"Beatrice..."_ A static voice came out of the accessory.

"That is... It is my father's voice!" Hope rose up in Beatrice once again.

"That's him! My uncle's voice!" Connar stepped closer to the robot.

"That's right. Your father and uncle left a message for both of you. I suppose he knew you'd come looking for him one day."

_"My dear Beatrice. If you are listening to this message, it means you have followed me down to the surface..."_

"Father!"

_"I must apologies. I abandoned you and Syliva for the sake of my dream. It is the most terrible thing for a father to have done. But I cannot change course now. I am going in search of the Seed. It is a journey from which I am unlikely to return. Before I leave, therefore, there is one thing I must tell you. Despite everything, I love you and your sister, from the bottom of my hea-"_ The accessory stopped and fell to the floor.

"Father!" Beatrice kneeled down beside the robot, Connar did the same on the other side of it.

"Sorry. The poor thing's been on its last legs for awhile now."

"Sorry? Sorry?! That's all you have to say?!"

"Connar!" Alice could feel the will'o spiking within the thief.

Connar stood up and grabbed Kasumi by her neck and threw her down. He then moved his hand to her arm as he planted his knee in Kasumi's chest and his foot on her arm, with his wrist blade point at her right eye.

"You saw us some accessory that looks like Beatrice's father, played a message from the man who disappeared, and the accessory that looks like him collapses. That's three slaps to the face is five minutes!"

"No!" Beatrice grabbed Connar's arm. "Please, I was able to hear my father's voice again. That means everything to me."

Connar retracted his blade but Beatrice didn't let go. "What was Cesare's dream?"

"I should tell you why?"

"You think Beatrice is keeping me from killing you?"

"Fair point. He wanted to bring about a 'great transformation'." Connar and Alice's eyes widened. "He said that was the only way to put a stop to all this endless conflict. He was trying to make the world a safe and peaceful place at last. And I have feeling he's still out there somewhere, still trying."

"That's all?" Asked Alice.

"There's not really much more I can tell you. So-"

"Say 'sorry' and I'm stabbing you. Give us a lead, what was the last thing you two did?"

"Maybe Remigio remembers more. He was part of the same group as your dad and me."

Connar thought for a moment then remembered where he met Remigio. "thank you the tip." Connar stood up and Alice helped Kasumi to her feet.

"Be warned though, the last few years have been hard on him. He might not be able to tell you anything useful."

"Then I'll cut open his head and drain the memories for the hole." The thief turned to the exit and started walking.

"Keep me posted on the progress of your investigation, won't you?" Connar held up his middle finger to Kasumi. "He's kidding about cutting his head open, right?"

Alice and Beatrice just looked at each other. "Maybe?" The two girl ran after Connar, hoping to stop a potential murder.

...

Down in the warren Remigio looked at his boot of alcohol and raised it to drink the last of its contests. When his head was up Connar stomped his foot into Remigio just below the neck and pushed him against the wall. "Hello again old man. You still have questions to answer."

"I got nothing to tell you kid, ah!"

Connar pressed his leg harder into the old man. "Kasumi, Cesare. Start talking, now."

"K-Kasumi!?"

"Cesare. Talk."

"Why's it so important-"

Connar pressed even harder. "He's my uncle, now talk." He then extended his hidden blade. "Or will I need to start cutting something?"

"Forget about him... He's never coming back."

"That's for me to decide."

"Connar!" Beatrice and Alice found him and jumped down the stairs.

"Just in time, says Cesare isn't coming back and to forget about him."

Beatrice wasn't having it anymore. "Never! I'll never forget him! He is my father! Please, you must remember something! Anything!"

"Anything at all?" Remigio asked.

"As long as it's useful." Answered Connar.

"How about the fact that I'm from On High too. That we came down together."

"Go on."

"Me and Cesare-"

"Cesare and I."

"Really Connar?" Asked Alice.

"Bad grammar bothers me. Anyway, continue."

"Cesare and I..." Connar nods. "We wanted to put an end to all the fighting. That's why we bust a gut trying to find that damn Seed."

"And the Seed is...?"

"I was never sure myself. But Cesare said we needed it if we were ever going to succeed."

"Anything else?"

"Nothing. Cesare never did tell me anything. I shouldn't have been surprised when he just up and left like that. Said he didn't want to put his friends in danger. Same reason he left his poor kids behind. I appreciate the guy was worried about me, but we were partners, you know? We were supposed to stick together."

"Did he achieve his goal?" Asked Alice.

"What do you think? The fighting's got worse-"

"The fighting's gotten worse, or the fighting has gotten worse." Connar corrected the old man again.

"Would you stop that!?"

"I'll stop when he stops."

"Are we done? I need a drink."

"What do you think ladies?"

Alice nods. "Yeah, we're done." Connar lifts his foot off Remigio and the man gets up to leave.

"All these new words." Alice and Connar turn to Beatrice as she trys to make sense of what she learned today. "The great transformation, this Seed. What in the world was my father planning?" Beatrice shook her head. "Apologies. I need not trouble you-"

"Nonsense. You and I are family Beatrice, you even need someone to talk too, to lean on, to protect you, you come to me, okay?" Connar rubbed her hair. "I'll take care of you, cousin. You can call me 'big brother' if it helps."

Beatrice began to cheer up from Connar's kindness and gave him a hug. "Thank you Connar. I, I'll be returning to my cell to think in solitude. When I gather my thought I'll come see you, is that okay?"

"Of course."

"And thank you Alice, for accompanying me today as well."

Alice just smiled. "Anytime." Beatrice hugged Alice and went on her way.

Conar stretched his arms up. "Time for me to go too. Now that the heats gone down some I need to speak with Elfriede. What's that look for?"

Alice had a big smile on her face. "You can be very sweet when you want to be, can't you?"

Connar grown and heads for the fueling station. "Just think about what I said, don't be a doll Alice."

_"A lap dog's lap dog, a toy, a doll. Natalie's doll."_ The word rang in Alice's head as she stood along. She tightened her fists and went back to the panopticon.

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	59. For the sake of love

Chapter. 60

Natalie typed on her tablet as she made her rounds with Leon, adding more years to sinners that got in her way. She was about to call it a day when she saw Alice coming for them.

"Alice where were you?" Asked Leon.

_"A lap dog's lap dog, a toy, a doll. Natalie's doll."_ The words echoes in Alice head, she clinched her fists and looked dead on at Natalie. "I want to take the code 7 exam."

"Alice we talked about this-"

"I'm ready, I can beat it. I'm a fallen, that had to count for something!"

"No!" Natalie stomps her foot forward. "You're not ready for the exam and I'll-"

_"Don't be a doll Alice."_ Alice felt her will'o welling up inside her. "I'm not a doll!" She shouted. Natalie was surprised by the reaction. "I'm not a doll, something you need to take care of. I'm a person, I can fight just like everyone else. Better then everyone else! I have the needed rights and lowered my years enough. You can't deny me the right to take the exam Notey!"

Natalie was thrown off by how forceful Alice had become, he thoughts turned to Connar and how is influence has gotten to her. The officer regains her composure and types on her tablet. "Very well then. You want it so bad you have it, you want to be code 7? Then get ready for it immediately."

"Thank you Natey." Alice took off to her cell.

"Are you sure about this?" Asked Leon.

"She's spent too much time with Connar and toxic mindset. I'll beat it out of her and show her that what I say goes!"

"But is Connar wrong in his thinking?"

"What!?"

"Hear me out. Nothing is changing no matter what we do, right? Maybe we need to view of an outside to come to a better future."

"I'll hear none of this! Go help Alice get ready, I have to do the same." Leon bows and chases after Alice. Natalie brings up Connar's file on her device. _"He'll be ready for the same exam soon. That's where you fall thief."_

...

Connar walked into the fueling station, once inside he looked around for Elfriede. When he didn't find her Connar went back to the entrance to look somewhere else. When he got out and approached the stairs he saw Elfriede coming down. "Elfy!"

"Connar."

The fallen could tell Elfriede wasn't too happy to see him. "I've been looking for you, you okay?"

"Why?"

"Why? So we could talk, about us. You said we could after things die down. Now seems like a good time."

"I'm sorry Connar I don't have time right now."

"What do you mean you don't have time?!"

"I have an operation-"

"I'll come with you."

"No, I-"

Connar wasn't having it anymore."What is with you Elfy?!"

Elfriede placed her hands on her hips. "Don't start yelling at me!"

"I will yell if it pleases me!" Connar waved his finger, point at the both of them. "You remember what happened when you bandaged my hands? We almost kissed, if not for that damn bear thing. There's something between us and ignoring it isn't going to help."

"I just-" Elfriede couldn't find the words.

"Just what? Need some time? Don't have time? Don't want to make the time? Or do you not care anymore?"

"That's not fair Connar."

"You've had two days, how much more time do you need? Aahh!" Connar's will'o was beginning to rise within him, he placed his hand on a wall for balance.

"Connar!?"

"I'm fine, I just need a minute." The thief turned back to Elfriede. "Are you scared of me?"

"What?"

"You heard me. Is that why you're pulling away? Because I'm a fallen?"

"I..." Elfriede just shook her head. "I have to go."

"Elfy! ELFY! AAAHH!" Connar fell to his knees holding his head.

"Connar!" Elfriede ran back to his side. "I'm sorry, I know I'm taking a long time but this doesn't mean we drop everything else. You understand?"

The pain started to fade enough that Connar could regain his scenes. "Yes." Elfriede helped Connar laid against the outside the fueling station.

"We can't be like the old days Connar."

"And why not? Can't we be something more?"

"More what?"

Connar grabbed Elfriede by the back of her head and pulled her close, Connar raised his body and connected his lips with Elfriede. After a couple of seconds Connar let go of Elfriede. "Something like that."

Elfriede was stunned, her confusion turned to anger and she grabbed Connar by his hair. "If you were anyone else I'd kill you."

"You know me, I've never been someone with a light touch."

"But me, really?"

Connar rested his hand on Elfriede's arm. "Your beautiful, charming, sometimes crazy, and always exciting. Of course I want you Elfy."

Elfriede's face was slowly turning red. "Yes, speechless. To be continued."

Elfriede wanted to stand up but Connar wouldn't let her go. "You don't need to shut me down Elfy."

"I really do." Elfriede pulled Connar's hand off of her. "I know it's, look, just later, okay?" Elfriede spun around and left.

As Connar watched her go his will'o was building up again, his other half had returned. **"She doesn't need you, you don't need anyone but me."**

_"Shut up."_

**"Why waste your time with a girl like her? She and all the others only slow you down."**

_"Shut up, Elfy isn't like the other."_

**"Then why is she leaving you like this?" **Connar couldn't think of a comeback.** "Exactly, all you need is your anger. It's what will keep you alive."  
**

_"What's the point of being alive if I have one to share it with." _This time the voice didn't have a comeback and faded back into Connar's subconsciousness.

...

Meanwhile Alice and Leon were their cell as Alice checked her equipment. Leon looked over his sinner's shoulder. "In the exam you'll have to fight an P and S officer, their accessories and a team of ops agents. All on your own."

"Then what would you recommend?"

"Extra ammo and plenty of med kits."

"Okay." Alice took some boxes of ammo and med kits then stuffed them into her dress pockets. "What else?"

"Some flash grenades couldn't hurt, maybe a flare knife for if your spear won't work."

"Good idea." Alice put on a belt and attached eight grenades to it and a flare knife holster. Alice looked over the blade before she returned it to its sheath. "Okay I think that's everything."

"Why are you so adamant about taking this exam Alice? If you don't mind me asking."

"I want, no, I need to prove to Natey that I'm not a child she needs to protect. Everyone's out there fighting to keep our panopticon safe, I need to do the same for them."

"Natey protects you because she loves you Alice."

"I know that. But that doesn't mean she has to treat me like, like something that breaks easily."

"But you do beark easily, each time your will'o changes you fall apart, shout you'll never use them again. Until Natey or I talk to you-"

"Shut up Leon." Alice punched her accessory, which had little effect. "I'm not weak, I'll prove it. I'll prove it to both of you!" She opened the door walked out. _"I'm not a doll."_

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	60. Let go and kill

Chapter. 61

Alice took a deep breath as she walked into the geo front. She climbed up to the cat walks to get into position. Accessories came down from the pipes, all of them holding sniper rifles.

_"The code 7 exam pits a sinner against an agent of the office of peace and stability." _

Alice reached to her ear piece. "Natey?"

_"In your case, me."_

"Natey no! I don't want to fight you!"

_"Give it your all. You're going to have to."_ Natalie's voice was colder then usual. _"Are you ready? Then let's begin."_

Alice saw three accessories aiming at her, she hid behind a small wall on the side of the cat walk for cover. Alice drew her assault gun waited fro the accessories to fire, when nothing happened she stood up and duck as the bullets flew over her.

"Time to put your abilities to the test, worm." Natalie stood on the pipes to get a better angle on Alice.

Alice rolled to the ground floor and fired at one of the accessories, putting it down. "Natey stop this!"

Natalie came down from the pipes with her thorn, holding her short sword she ran to Alice and swung.

Alice dropped her gun and drew her spear just in time to defend herself.

"This is the test Alice, don't even think about holding back. I'll be trying to kill you, and I expect you to return the favor."

An accessory shot Alice in the leg, the cried in pain and Natalie took Alice spear and struke her in the head with it, knocking her down. "I will defend my panopticon at all costs. Even if that means using methods that others find... cold blooded."

"Natey..." Another accessory shot Alice in the arm as she tried to pushed herself up.

"The question is, can you do the same? Can you prove that you'll do whatever it takes to protect your panopticon?"

Alice tossed one of her flash grenades into the air and used her thorn to get back up to the higher level while everyone else was blinded. As Natalie and her robots couldn't see Alice used two of her med kits to repair her wounds.

Alice leaped down to Natalie, she took her weapon back and hit Natalie in the back of her legs. As she was down Alice grappled to another accessory and impaled it with her spear.

"Of course I'll fight for my panopticon! I want to be like my parents!" The third accessory fired at Alice and she blocked the bullet with the head of her spear head. Alice picked up the sniper and shot the accessory.

Natalie climbed up to Alice and raised her sword, Alice held out her sniper to block.

Alice fell some slash into her back, her legs grew weak and Natalie knocked her down. Alice saw two of the accessories being revived by ops agents and another agent standing over her with Natalie, also reviving the third accessory.

The officer kicked Alice off the cat walk and back to the ground floor. The girl crashed into the ground with a thud, her healed limbs now broken.

"If you can't make it... tough! I have no need for weaklings, neither does this panopticon." Alice was pushing her up and Natalie shot her in the back. "Stay down worm, your not ready for this."

Alice lied on the ground, her body going numb. "Is this it? All I can do?" She whispered to herself.

_"Natalie's doll, you're too weak, something that needs to be protected, can't protect anyone, you're nothing." _The voice in Alice's head wouldn't stop talking. _"Fight."_ Alice heard Connar's voice. _"Fight her, Natey won't respect you if you won't fight her. Or will you just lay there like a doll, waiting to be played with?_"

Will'o glowed around Alice's body, healing her wounds. _"Fight back, fight with everything you have. To protect, you need to destroy."_

The agent jumped down to see what was going on, when they stood over her Natalie saw Alice tighten her grip on her spear. "Get out of there!" She shouted.

Alice stood up and slice an agent in half, the two half exploded with will'o. Alice grabbed the second by her hair and slammed her into thee ground, she stomped on her head and crushed. The third one used her thorn to escape but Alice threw her spear into her neck and severed her head.

An accessory shot Alice in the arm, the injury healed and Alice looked at the accessory and use her thorn to pull them down. Alice held the accessory by its neck and thrusted her hand through it, taring out its will'o core. The fallen girl crushed the core in her hand and absorbed the will'o.

More ops agents came down, each armed with shorts swords. Alice kicked up the sniper rifle for the broken accessory, she held it with one hand and shot one of the agents. She flipped the gun and held it by the barrel then spun around to hit another agent, taking her head off.

The agents switched to their guns and Alice used her thorn to pick up two short swords. The agents opened fire and gunned down Alice.

Her will'o flowed to her green thorn which started to grew all over her body, healing her. Alice jumped back on her feet and dashed at the agents.

The agents fired again but the thorns healed her just as the bullets connected. Alice slashed the first agent's head off then cut the second one in half. Alice stabbed the third with both swords then hurled them into the fourth, both exploding with will'o. The agents were backing away while throwing sticky grenades.

as the grenades connected Alice's thorns absorbed the will'o from the grenades. She dropped the swords and threw the grenades back. Killing two more agents.

One agent fell for the pipes to impale Alice from above. Alice side stepped and grabbed the agent by the neck she took one of her flash grenades and shoved it into the agents mouth then tossed her a side. As Alice walked away the agent's head exploded.

Natalie came down and Alice grabbed two more short swords. The office brought her sword down and Alice crossed her blades to catch it. Natalie was pushing with everything she had but Alice could see something in her face, fear.

Alice headbutts Natalie then kicked her in the chest. **"Have I proven myself yet?!"** Natalie got up on one knee and Alice kicked her back down. **"Now will you believe me?!"**

An accessory took aim at Alice, the girl threw a sword at it. The blade took the accessory's head off and landed in a wall. The last accessory did the same and Alice did the same to it as well.

Natalie stood up and swung at Alice, Alice ducked under the blade and grabbed Natalie by the arm and threw her to the ground.

Alice stomped on Natalie's sword arm and planted her knee into the officer's stomach while holding her flare knife to Natalie's throat. **"I can fight, I can protect this panopticon, I don't need you to baby me anymore."**

"Your voice."

**"I'm in control of it now. So did I pass or do you need more blood?"**

"Your will'o, it's turning you into a monster!"

Alice closed her eyes and her will'o aura faded away. She reopened them and they were back to normal. "Did I pass or not?" Alice still kept the knife to Natalie's throat.

Natalie sighed. "I'm sorry. It wasn't fair for me to treat you like a child forever. Leon was right, you do need to grow on your own. You've grow so strong and learned to control your will'o. You parents would be proud."

"So...?"

"Yes. I'd say it's safe to say you passed." Alice got off of Natalie and helped her up. "This is what it that's to protect the panopticon." Natalie waved her hand over the death Alice had brought. "If you can keep doing this, then this panopticon will be well protected."

Natalie expected Alice to become sickened, start crying, run off, something, anything. Alice just looked over her handy work, not a shred of emotion was on her face.

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	61. Robotic connection

Chapter. 62

Two days later Connar arrived in the abductor maintenance bay at the request of Julien. Looking at each of the machines he found the spider mode he took with Julien and Beatrice working on some computers with wires connected to the abductor.

"You called?" The thief's question had gone unheard from the two engineers. Connar drew his gun and shot a light over them. Shards of glass fell nearby and sacred them. "You called?" He asked again.

"Please

Beatrice stopped typing to look at her cousin. "Connar don't do that!"

"Then answer me when I speak. So what did you both want, this thing ready to go?"

"I'm here!" Alice waved as she and Leon came up to the group. "Guess what, I just made code 7."

"Congratulations!" Beatrice and Julien clapped.

Connar turned to the abductor, seeing himself standing on top of it. Connar shook his head and used his thorn to climb on top of it. "So when do I take this for a test drive?"

Alice crossed her arms. "Always has to be about you doesn't it?"

"Don't act like you don't care, I know you're wanting use your abductor as much I am. So again, is it ready?"

"Just about, if you'd come down now." Julien walked to a create and opened it. Everyone gathered around it as Julien pulled out a metal backpack with wires connecting to gloves and a helmet with a blue visor. "Beatrice and I came up with this. It'll let you remote control the abductor while blocking out the white noise."

"Abel could control his with only his mind, what gives?"

"Well it's not something you can just rush into, you'll have to eases your mind to the effects of controlling an abductor. When you get used to it-"

"In case you haven't noticed we don't have time to 'eases into thing' here."

"Connar shut up, they've put in a lot of effort to help. Show some graduated."

The thief cocked his head to Alice. "When did you get a back bone?"

Alice brushed her hair back, some fell over her left eye. "The exam taught me something."

"We ready yet?"

Beatrice grabbed the other backpack. "Can you come with me Alice? I'll take you to your abductor." Alice and Leon followed to another bay area.

Connar looked at the device and put on the backpack, then the gloves and helmet. Julien went back to his computer and started typing. "Okay this could hurt, just bear with it, it'll soon pass." The citizen sent a command to the device.

Loud static blared from the device, Connar could feel the noise in his ears and head. He grabbed the sides of his helmet to take it off and for a moment he could see Abel, grinning at him from on Red Rage. _"I won't be left behind."_ Connar removed his hands from his head, he struggled to stay on his feet.

Connar felt like his body was being stretched he kneeled down and raised his fist, punching the ground repeatedly to have something to take his mind away from the pain.

There was another sound but Connar couldn't make it out. He rose it his feet again as the static was dying down. "Connar!" Shouted Julien.

Connar wanted to take off the helmet but couldn't move his arms. The spider abductor raised its front legs and brought them down with a thud. "What?" Connar tried again and the spider raised its front legs again, this time Connar slowly put them down.

"It worked, it worked!" Cheered Julien.

Connar closed his eyes to get a better feel of his body. He could his arms and legs but could also feel eight other arms and something coming of of his back. Connar looked at the spider, it had become a part of him, now he need to learn how to move with it.

...

"Okay just put this on!" Beatrice helped get the device on to Alice while Leon looked over the tiger abductor.

Alice held the helmet. "So... What can... Will this hurt?"

Beatrice went to her computer. "There will be white noise, static that you will feel in your head. It's the device connecting the abductor to your will'o, giving you the link to control it."

"Then let's start!" Alice quickly put on the helmet. "Throw the switch Beatrice!" The sinner typed a command and static surged through Alice's head.

The girl held up her hands and tightened then into fists as she endured the pain.

"Alice?" Leon walked to Alice and the abductor roared. "Alice!"

The abductor slammed it front left paw on the ground and dragged its claws into the floor.

"Beatrice shut it down, you're hurting Alice!"

"NO!" Alice shouted. "I can take this pain, I won't be stopped! Not with all the blood on my hands!" The abductor roared as if to show Alice determination. After a minute the noise started to die down and Alice let her hands down.

"Alice?" Leon slowly went to Alice's side and rested his hand on her shoulder. "Are you okay?"

"Leon!" The accessory turned to the abductor gently rubbed it head against Beatrice. "You're a beautiful girl." Beatrice pet the metal tiger and rubbed its chin.

Alice held out her hand and the abductor walked towards her. "This is the coolest thing I've ever seen." Alice rested her hand on the abductor's nose. The static came back and Alice screamed in pain.

Leon took off the helmet while Beatrice shut down the abductor. "Breath Alice."

"What was that?"

Beatrice was running through all her data. "I do not know, a feedback loop? It came from being connected to the abductor for too long, your mind couldn't take it anymore. If Leon hadn't removed that helmet-"

"This is too dangerous to use."

"No Leon, if Abel can handle it so can I. I'm not a weak little girl that needs to be taken care of, not anymore."

...

"AAAAAHHHHHH!" Connar lost control of his hands as the static returned even stronger, all he could do was control his abductor to stomp its legs. The pain was becoming too much and Connar crashed to the floor. Julien removed the helmet and the abductor stopped.

"Connar!" The thief was shacking badly, he couldn't control his body as it twitched about. After what seemed like an eternity Connar was able to calmed down but was sweating greatly. Julien called for medical aid to take Connar back to his cell.

On the way Alice, Beatrice, and Leon watched as Connar was carried away.

"What happened to him?" Asked Beatrice.

Alice only shook her head. "He couldn't handle it."

...

In his cell Connar awoke to find his whole body was numb. The world turned purple and Connar sighed, knowing Aries was coming.

Out of the wall Aries appeared. "got a question for you."

"Not now Aries."

Aries leaned closer with a smile. "What's the matter, upset you couldn't get abductor to work?"

"I'm warning you."

"For what?" Aries raised one finger and poked Connar in the nose.

"Stop it."

"Make me." Aries kept poking Connar. "You think you the next hot thing? You're so weak you can't stop me from annoying you."

"Stop it." Aries wasn't listening to him. "Stop it!" Aries still didn't listen. "I, said..." Connar struggled to move his body, will'o build up with in him and rose up. He stood up and grabbed Aries by her wrist. "Stop it."

Aries smiled lightly at Connar. "Tell me. What freedoms do humans really have when it comes to time?"

"We prepare for what's to come and what to do when it comes."

"The more time passes, the more those freedoms you lose."

Connar let go of Aries. "Time is an illusion. It's being here now that's important. There's no past and there's no future. Time is a very misleading thing. All there is ever, is the now. We can gain experience from the past, but we can't relive it; and we can hope for the future, but we don't know if there is one."

Aries giggled then full out began laughing. "You know, for someone stained in blood you have a gentle heart." Connar looked away and Aries held the side of his face and turned the thief back to look at her. "There comes a time when the world gets quiet and the only thing left is your own heart. So you'd better learn the sound of it. Otherwise you'll never understand what it's saying."

With her parting words Aries vanished as the world turned black.

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	62. Metalic Harmony

Chapter. 63

Connar returned to the abductor storage bay late at night. He found his abductor with the control device next to a computer. Connar picked up the helmet and sat on a create. He looked the robot spider, thinking about riding it into battle.

A loud thud came from behind Connar, he shot up and drew his flare knife.

"I think that's enough for now Alice, you need rest."

"Yeah. It'll pretty fun though."

Connar went around the wall to find Alice and Leon putting away their control device. "Hey..." Connar's voice was too low for them to hear him.

The two finished and turned to leave. "Connar?"

"How long have you been there?"

"I just arrived." The thief examined the tiger abductor. "You, any good at controlling that thing?"

"Yeah! It was weird at first, felt like my body had more parts to it."

"That's what it felt for me, but it was like I lost control of my own body."

"Really?"

Connar lowered his gaze. "Could you, teach me how to do it?"

Alice tilted her head. "What?"

"I need you to show me how to control an abductor!"

"I-"

Leon stepped closer to Connar. "We'll do it tomorrow, Alice needs her rest. And after what happened today so do you."

"I need help, I can't do it alone."

"Connar." Alice held Connar's arms. "You were in real bad shape last you tried. It almost killed you. No one will blame you for giving up, you tried and that's enough."

Connar shook off Alice's hands. "I'm not gonna just quit. Be here tomorrow or I'll find you and drag you back here." Connar turned and walked away.

"Why is this so important to him?"

Leon ruffled Alice's hair. "He's a prideful person, and it was bitter enough for him to ask for help. To give up after coming this closer would break his spirit."

...

The fallowing morning Alice and Leon returned to the abductor storage bay, there they found Connar and Beatrice looking over control device while Julien worked at the computer.

"Morning everyone!" Alice greeted everyone.

"About time." groaned Connar.

"You want my help of not?"

"Okay!" Beatrice put down her tools and started putting the device on Connar. "I looked over the data from Alice's use of this device. It seems the problem is that the S type is harder to connect to then the T type. We could change-"

"No Beatrice. This is the one I want, if I can control this spider I can crush Abel and his Red Rage."

"You know, Red Rage has damage-" Started Julien.

"I'd like to see it be 'immune to damage' when I smash it into the concrete over and over. Alice, how was you could control your tiger?"

"It's like having more body parts, so what I did was imagine I had to bodies. My human body and tiger body."

"That simple?"

Alice nods. "That simple."

"That remains me." Beatrice pulled the device's gloves on Connar. "You'll need to try again controlling your abductor for better synchronization."

"Can I name My abductor?"

"You mean you haven't yet?"

Alice clapped her hands. "I'm gonna call it Angelica. My angel tiger."

"That's a beautiful name."

"Okay." Julien looked up for his monitor. "You're clear for another try."

Connar put on the helmet and Julien started the abductor. The static kicked in but it wasn't as bad as it was before.

"Remember, think that you have two bodies." said Alice.

The notice was making it hard for Connar to think straight. He imagined Alice fighting Abel with her abductor. The idea of losing his chance to kill Abel was making his blood boil.

The spider raised its front legs and tapped them on the floor. Connar tightened his fists, remembering to move his body. _"I won't be left behind."_

"He's doing it, he's really doing it!" Julien was blown way the results he was seeing.

Connar throw his thorn to climb onto the spider and rode it out of the bay area.

"Connar!" Beatrice chased after her cousin.

"Alice!"

"Right!" Alice and Leon ran to get their abductor.

Connar rode his machine into a larger area for testing abductor. He saw a biped type just standing still, Connar commanded his metal spider to charged. The abductor leaped at the biped and slammed down on it with it legs.

"I'll break Red Rage, I'll kill Abel, I'll get my freedom and get out of here."

_"Is it really so bad here?"_

Connar stopped when he heard Elfriede's voice. He looked around but couldn't find her. "Did I...?"

"Connar!" Alice and Leon rode on the tiger abductor to catch up to him. "You mind telling us what that was about?"

"Sorry I don't, I don't really know myself."

"Just got carried why, huh? Me too."

Connar felt the static return and took off his helmet. "That's it?!"

"You'll get to use it longer the more you sync with your abductor. Its like your brain is getting used to it or something."

"Connar!" Beatrice caught up to Abductors. "What are you doing?!"

"Test drive?" Alice snicked at Connar's joke. The thief put the helmet back on and guided the abductor to its holding bay.

Once it was back in place Connar took off the control device. "So the big question. When can we take these things into the field?"

"Could be quite soon from what Alice's data is promising." Julien looked around. "Hey where is Alice?"

Connar ran back to the testing area, there he saw Alice taking down abductor after abductor atop of her robotic tiger. Alice drew a sniper rifle from her will'o case and began shooting the accessories that joined the training session.

A sense of uselessness welled up inside Connar. He was a fallen, a strong fight, and soon would have an abductor to command. Then there was Alice who was better at everything then him.

She didn't need help to control an abductor, neither did she go berserk when she used her will'o. Connar clinched his fist. _"Why does Aries need me? Alice is better suited to save the world."_ Connar put his hands in his coat pockets and left.

As he walked Connar was starting to get dizzy, he stumbled into his abductor's holding bay.

"Connar are you okay?" Asked Beatrice.

"No, I think Somethings wrong with my head."

"You're just tired, the same thing happened to Alice. You need to rest." Beatrice helped Connar to the abductor where sat down against it leg.

"Thanks Beatrice."

"Thank you too for giving me the chance to do something like this. To learn how to control an abductor with only someone's mind."

Connar smiled. "Anything to make you happy Beatrice." Julien called for Beatrice's help and Connar closed his eyes, the sound of typing began to fade as he slipped into unconsciousness.

...

Connar awake in the city, the world had a purple tint. Connar expected Aries to show up but nothing happened. Connar heard footsteps and followed them.

He found a young man wearing a black coat over tan jeans a shirt completely stained in blood and black boots. His hair was dark brown and covered his eyes. There was a sword at his side in a black rectangular sheath with a trigger near the hilt. The sword handle was gold with three different colored triggers, red, blue, and purple.

"Hello?" The person walked passed Connar, as he wasn't there. "Hey I'm talking to you!" Connar stood in the person's way and phased through him.

He turned to see the person was walking towards two fire biped abductors. Both other the robots spotted the person and advanced.

"Guy, run! Do something!" Connar in front of the man and tried to grab him but his hands only went through him.

Sky blue light shined where the man's eyes were suppose to be. "Will'o?" Thief heard metal scrapping behind him. He turned and saw the abductors in a will'o aura being compacted.

Sinners arrived with several guns bared. The person drew his sword which had a silver blade. "Run!" Connar shouted but to no avail.

The sinners opened fire, the person swung the sword at inhuman speed and deflected every bullet. "Wow." Sinners with laser cannons stepped up and fired white beams.

The persons hand glowed with will'o and spread to the sword. He spun the sword and blocked the beams. Another sinner launched four missiles, the young man slashed at three of the missiles, letting them fly passed his sides and grabbed the four missile.

"How-" Will'o flowed off the person into the missile and threw at the crewed of sinners. The missile hit the ground and detonated with massive force.

The will'o coating the person's hand shrank to cover only his ring finger and the will'o on the sword changed to crackling electricity. He ran towards the downed sinner extraordinary speed, it looked like his feet didn't touch the ground.

"Who is this guy?" Connar watched as he slice any sinners who were still alive. When they were all dead the person spun his sword then swung it to get the blood off before returning the sword to its sheath.

He stood up and looked straight at Connar. "Strike down your demons, it's the only you can fly with angels."

"What?" The world faded into white before Connar could get his answer.

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	63. Unforgeting Unforgiving

Chapter. 64

Over the next few days Connar and Alice practiced with their abductors. Connar was starting to get better at using his machine but still had trouble moving his body and the abductor's at the same time.

For Alice it was second natural, shooting accessories while her abductor Angelica tackled biped abductor and ripped them apart.

Connar felt the static and took off his helmet. "Can we take a break?"

Alice stopped as well. "Forty minutes, new record Connar."

"Yeah, but you can go for almost two hours."

"Don't feel bad Connar, you can't be good at everything, right?"

Connar looked away. "Just everything I can do."

"Hey!" Beatrice and Julien approached the sinners. "Both of you are showing some real promise with this abductors."

Julien brought up his tablet. "The higher ups has talked about it and, you two are gonna field test you links to the abductors."

"Really?!"

"About time."

"So get some rest, tomorrow is the real deal."

_"Just another step to taking down Abel."_ Connar glanced over to Alice._ "Who am I kidding, Alice is gonna get the casket back."_ Connar put the helmet back on and rode his abductor back to its holding bay.

Alice and Leon left the abductor storage and headed for the fueling station. Alice took a seat while Leon ordered her a drink.

"Hey Alice!" Mattias entered and joined Alice. "Where have you been?"

"I've been training with my abductor, Angelica."

"When can I see it, come on man!"

"First, I'm a girl. Second, you can see it tomorrow."

"Really?"

"I'd like to see it too." Uwe joined the conversation. "How are you doing with it?"

"Here." Leon gave a soda to Alice. "Alice is getting quite good with it. Handles like a dream, as they say."

"You guys want to come with with me tomorrow? Connar and I are finally gonna see how they do in a real fight."

"Hell yeah!"

"Count me in."

Alice smiled happily, thinking that with these two at her side it'll be a snap.

Outside the fueling station they heard shouting and a gun shot.

"What's going on?" Mattias went out to see what it was. Alice had a bad feeling and went out as well, followed by Uwe.

...

Connar and Beatrice were running system checks to make sure the spider abductor was in good shape.

Beatrice glanced at Connar who was staring at the abductor. "Isn't she beautiful?"

"Huh? Yeah I guess."

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, let's get this thing ready for its big day." Beatrice nods and goes back to her work. Connar's mind wondered back to the dream he had. "I'm gonna go get some air, I think the will'o fumes is getting to me."

"I'm come with you."

"Thanks." The two rode the lift to the warren level. Once in the open air Connar took a deep breath, he heard some metal rattling above him. A sinner jump down at him with a bent sword. Connar sidestepped the sinner and threw them to the ground with his wrist blade in their shoulder. "What was that for?"

"You killed my brother!"

"Revenge isn't gonna bring him back."

"Says the man who killed him!"

Four men in black jackets and biker helmets came running at Connar, The sinner knew these people were from the gang who's leader he killed. Connar stood up and ducked under one of the thugs punches and stabbed them in the ribs.

The second got behind Connar and put his arm around his neck, the thief extended his second wrist blade and stabbed them in the eye then threw them onto the next attacker.

The last one had a lead pipe and swung for Connar's head. Connar grabbed the pipe and stabbed the thug in the neck, then smashed the pipe on the last attacker still alive.

"Anyone else?!" Connar held out his arms as he looked at everyone in the warren. "Who else wants some!?" A sniper bullet struke Connar in the chest, knocking him down.

"Connar!" Cried Beatrice. She kneeled down to use her thorn but Connar's eyes glowed with will'o.

The fallen jumped back up and threw his thorn to one of the buildings and pulled out the sinner who shot him. Connar held the sinner by his throat and stabbed him repeatedly in the torso then crushed his neck until their head fell off.

Two more gang members showed up with blasters, Connar threw his thorn at one and swung them in the way of the others fire. The attack dropped their gun and ran but Connar grabbed them with his thorn and pulled them closer. **"Come back here!"** Connar held the gang member and threw them down. **"There's still dying to do!"**

"Connar!" Someone grabbed Connar by the shoulder, he turned around and stabbed them. Connar saw the horror in his victims eyes. It was Elfriede.

The will'o in Connar's eyes faded and he froze. Elfriede stumbled back and Beatrice caught her, healing the small girl with her thorn.

Connar just stood there, staring at his wrist blade. Coated with Elfriede's blood. Blood dripped off the blade as Connar watched slowly fall, he didn't even feel it when Uwe punched him in the side of the head, sending Connar sliding across the ground.

Alice kneeled beside Elfriede and used her will'o to heal her with Beatrice. When they were finished Uwe picked up his daughter and carried her back to her cell.

Alice and Beatrice stood over Connar, both of them couldn't believe what just happened. Both knew what Connar was going through with his will'o but no it has gotten worse. If anything it was always Elfriede that could bring Connar back. Now even that seemed to stop working.

...

Connar shot up as he awake in his cell. The image of stabbing Elfriede replayed over and over each time he blinked. Her blood was dried on his blade. The thief took off his wrist blades and threw them across the cell.

The world turned purple and Aries appeared. Connar was overtaken by his will'o again lunged at her. Aries used her power throw Connar back and pin his arm to the wall.

"It's gotten worse then I thought. You're degrading too fast."

**"I'll kill you! You're the one who got me in this!"**

Aries places both her hands on Connar's head, will'o pulsed through him and the sinner passed out on his bed. "I need to tell Simeon about this." Aries brushed some of Connar's hair and kissed his forehead. His body glowed with will'o. "Rest now, your trial will be soon."

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	64. Inner demons

Chapter. 65

Rain clouds formed above the old factory. Connar and Alice were putting on their devices, with them Mattias and Beatrice were check for any enemy sinners.

Alice finished putting on her equipment and turned to Connar who was slowly putting on his own. "You okay?"

Stabbing Elfriede still haunted Connar's thoughts. He looked at his wrists, the blades were gone but he could still feel them.

Leon stood atop the a refining tower and looked through his sniper scope to spot a group a sinners coming, he climbed down and ran to the group. "We have incoming, get ready everyone."

Mattias and Beatrice loaded their guns while Alice got her abductor warmed up.

"Connar come on!"

Connar glances to Alice then put on the rest of his device. He exhaled and climbed on top his abductor. "Time to kill." Rain started to trickle from the sky.

The sinners came into the area and spotted the group. Connar pointed at the enemy and his robot fired blogs of webs. The webs flew over the sinner as they ran for cover. The webs landed where they came from and cut off the enemies retreat.

With no way back the enemy could only advance. As they approached Alice rode her abductor which clawed through them. One got on the abductor and was shot down by Leon.

Beatrice and Mattias took cover behind concrete walls as they and the enemy had a back and forth shoot out. Connar commanded his abductor to launch missiles, mostly to destroy the enemy's cover but still killed a few.

Alice's abductor backed off and floated into the air. As a blue circle formed over the metal tiger a sinner with a rocket launcher came out from cover and Alice shot them in the head with her sniper rifle.

Bullets pinged against the tiger but it didn't stop the machine as it fired a laser beam down at the sinners.

The webs started dissolved and the enemy sinners could finally try to run.

Lightning striked down from the sky, hitting both the abductors. Alice and Connar screamed as the static became to much to bear and the two collapsed. Connar fell on his machine and Alice rolled off her's, being caught by Leon.

With the fallen unconscious their abductors stopped their assault. The enemy sinners noticed this and were on the offensive. Beatrice and Mattias had to take cover behind the abductors as they dragged their fallen companies with them..

"What happened to them?!" Asked Mattias.

"I don't know!" Beatrice grabbed her cousin's helmet but was mildly shocked.

Don't touched their helmets!" Shout Leon. "They're overloaded with will'o!"

...

Connar awake and sat up. He was still in the factory but he was alone, the world had a purple tint and a fog of will'o covered the area. "Hello?" Connar stood up and looked around. "Aries?!"

**"She won't help you here."** Connar turned and was punched in the head. **"You know how long I've waited for this?"**

Connar stood up to see a copy of himself with eyes glowing with will'o. "Who are you?"

**"You know who."**

Connar got into a fighting stance. "Dracula."

The copy grinned and did the same. Dracula ran towards Connar and threw a punch, Connar dodged the attack and swung his arm to hit them in the in the face.

Dracula caught the fist and hurled Connar to the ground then kicked him in the side. Connar got up and tackled Dracula down. He held Dracula up by his shirt collar and repeatedly punched him. After the tenth hit Dracula grabbed Connar by the throat and started returning the punches.

Connar kneed Dracula in the stomach to get him off. "What the hell do you want?" Connar jumped to his feet and backed away from Dracula.

The copy stood up and walked towards Connar. **"What do you think I want?"**

"No."

**"You'd be dead a dozen times over without me."**

"You killed Ann! You hurt Elfriede!"

**"You killed Ann and I wasn't the one who stabbed Elfriede. She shouted you're name but you didn't listen."**

"Shut up."

**"You have got away from her, punched her, pushed her. No. You chose to stab the one behind you, to kill them."**

"Shut up!"

Dracula dashed to Connar and grabbed him by the heir to throw him to the ground. The copy slammed Connar's head into the concrete, after a few hits Connar grabbed Dracula's leg and flipped him on his back.

Connar got up and spat out some blood. "You killed them!"

**"I am you, so you killed them."** Dracula jumped at Connar and put him in a headlock. **"I was born from your anger."** Connar struggled to get out but couldn't breath and was losing strength. **"The world doesn't need someone as weak as you."** Connar stopped struggling and went limp. Dracula dropped Connar and walked away.

...

Alice woke up and found herself alone, in a world tinted purple and will'o fog. "Hello?" Alice stood up to look around. She heard crying and followed it to find a little girl holding a doll. "Why are you crying?"

"I don't want to be alone."

"It's okay." Alice kneeled down and patted the girls back, the girl looked up at Alice and exactly like her. Alice looked at the doll which also look just like her. "Who are you?"

"I don't know, what do you want me to be?"

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know who I am, Tell me who I am."

Alice looked the girl over, she wore the same dress as her, had the hair and had the same different colored eyes. "You're a younger me." Alice helped her smaller self to her feet.

"Where's Natey?" The small girl looked around then back to Alice. "I don't know what to do with out Notey."

"What do you mean?"

"I need Natey, I can do anything with her!" The girl grabbed Alice's hand as she cried. "I need to know that Notey will like me if I do what she whats."

"You don't need Natey to tell you what to do all the time."

The girl looked up to Alice. "You do!"

"I..." Alice couldn't disagree, she shook her head. "No. I stood up to Natey-"

"Only because Connar told you too." The girl stopped crying and let go of Alice. "Everything you do is so someone will like you."

"That's..." Alice couldn't counter. She glanced at the doll in her hands. _"A doll, a doll, a doll."_ Connar's words echoed over and over. "I don't need someone to tell me what to do!"

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	65. A new reason

Chapter. 66

As Dracula walked away Connar breathed in needed air, once his strength was back Connar lifted himself up. Two people stood before him. A woman with sandy hair and eyes, the other was a man with red hair and brown eyes, both of them wore white clothes of On High.

"Mom, Dad?" Connar hugged the two. "It's really you."

Connar's mother rested her hand on his back. Connar."

The thief let go and stepped away. "Why, how are you here?"

Connar's father placed his hand on his son's arm. "Remeber? This is the plane between life and death, and right now you're leaning towards death."

"How do you know that?"

"We've been watching you son."

Connar looked away. "Must have been a tarrible show."

Connar's mother her her son's face. "Connar, you need to know the truth" Connar turned back to his parents. "When you were a baby, back at On High. Devaja broke into our home, your room."

"What?"

"He held a gun to us as he looked down at you he was bleeding badly."

"We offered to help him but he said 'it was to late' and 'this one will do.'."

Connar held his hand over his chest. "What did he do?"

"This blue light came off of him and on to you, just before he died."

Memories triggered in Connar's mind, he walked through a city with all of it buildings still intact. Connar ducked into an ally, blood pouring from his side. He found a window and broke it open with his rifle and climbed inside.

He was in a nursery, to his left was a crib with a baby now crying.

_"Connar?"_

Two people came in and Connar pointed his gun at them. _"Stay there."_

_"Please, don't hurt our son. You're injured, we can-"_

"It's too late now." Connar looked down at the baby. _"This one will do."_ A will'o aura formed around him and the memory was over.

"You okay son." Asked the father.

Connar fell to his knees.

"Connar!" His parents cried.

"I can't do it anymore."

"You can't just give up Connar. The world still needs you, you're friends still need you."

"I never cared for the world. No one will miss me." The thief closed his eyes and hung his head. "It was Dracula's rage, Devaja's skill. I was just the middle man. Let those two fight over a blood stained body. I give up."

Connar's mother kneeled beside her son. "Right now the easiest thing you can do is quit." she placed her hand on Connar's back. "But you're not going too. You never did so why start now?"

"Two years can change a person."

Connar's father lowered himself. "listen son, you don't give up halfway that's not the point. The point is the challenge, the path. The road to victory."

A road paved with bodies."

The father held Connar's shoulder. "It wouldn't mean anything otherwise, and if you don't lose something along the way then you don't deserve it."

"Lose something? I've lost everything?"

Connar's mother rubbed her son's back. "Not everything hun. You still have friends, people who count on you. Mattias is a clown but he can keep spirits up."

"Alice needs you because you're the only one she can talk too about her fallen ability."

"You and Natalie my not see eye to eye but she does respect your abilities to fight."

"And what about that Elfriede girl you've been crushing on?" Connar's body tensed up. "You gonna give up on her too?"

The father reached down Connar's shirt and pulled out the necklace, showing the gold coin to his son. "She still has the other piece to this. Elfriede cares about you very much. When she showed Uwe the locket he thought it was a childish promise that would be forgotten, but then remembered that it was you that could keep her anger down."

Another memory came to Connar, it was in the lower area of the warren as a child Elfriede was punching a boy in the face to the point of bleeding. As she pulled her arm back a younger Connar wrapped his arms around her's "Elfy stop!"

Elfriede shook her her arm, trying to get Connar loose. _"Let go of me!"_

_"Not until you stop!"_

_"He stole from us!"_

_"And we stole from him! Please Elfy you'll kill him if you don't stop." _Elfriede stopped and lowered her arm, Connar gave a medkit to the boy then left with his friend.

When the memory was over Connar looked down at his hands._ "Elfy trys to keep me from becoming a monster, because I kept her from becoming one."_

"Did you remember something?" Asked the father.

"Better days."

Connar's mother smiled gently. "You need to have hope and to believe. Believe that there is something better out there."

Connar's father patted his son's shoulder. "Cause I'll be damned if those monsters in you get to roam free. you have something that will help you win this fight, something they'll never have."

"The weakest are the ones who don't have something to protect, something to fight for. What do you fight for Connar?" Silence hung over the family as Connar couldn't come up with an answer.

The mother brushed her son's hair out of his eyes. "If you truly want to give up it's okay, no one is expecting you to change the world. But if you want to keep fighting but need a reason how about this. Go back to the panopticon and find Elfriede, when you do give her a hug and tell her you're sorry."

Both of Connar's parents stood up. "Either way know that we still love you son." The two walked away and faded into will'o.

Connar didn't move only stared at the concrete. "I'm done."

...

Dracula found some will'o gathering and formed a sphere of light. **"Finally, no more riding second." **Connar ran to Dracula, he grabbed him by the back of his head and threw away from the light. Dracula tried to get up but Connar kicked him in the head so hard he slid further away form the light. **"What?!"** Dracula slowly got up to see Connar ready to fight with murder in his eyes.

"I'm done being pushed around in my own body, I'm done hurting people who don't deserve it. I'm done being a monster, this is my body. This ends now!"

Dracula's body was shacking with anger.** "I've waited too long to be free, I won't be denied by a moody brat like you!"**

"Monsters like you have no place in the real world."

The two ran towards each other, Connar scored the first hit by punching Dracula in the mouth. Draulca held his ground and punched Connar in the nose. Connar recovered and kicked Dracula in the ribs, the copy punched Connar in the stomach and swung his leg in Connar's side.

The thief grabbed on of Dracula's leg, he swung him around in the air then slammed him on the ground. Connar raised his foot to stomp but Dracula roll out of the way.

Dracula sat up and kicked low to swipe one of Connar's leg into the air and tackled him.

Connar kneed Dracula in the chest to get him off. The thief got up and jumped at Duacula while he was still airborne, grabbing his head and crashing him on the ground again.

Connar stood over Dracula, he dropped to one knee and had his foot on Dracula's arm to hold him and punched Dracula in the face as hard and as fast as he could.

Dracula thrusted his torso up and pushed Connar off then roll on to him, time he was the delivering the punches.

Connar pushed his hand onto Dracula's to get his off. Once both were back on their feet Dracula kneed Connar in the stomach then kicked him in the ribs.

Connar grabbed Dracula's leg and elbowed dropped it before pulled Dracula close to punch him in the jaw. Will'o glowed over Connar's fist followed by an explosion as it made contact with Dracula.

Dracula slid back was stayed on his feet. He looked at who now had a will'o aura over his body but was more denied around his fist and forearms.

The copy ran with his arm reeled back for another attack, aim for Connar's face. The thief headbutted the attack, will'o exploded on Dracula's fist and burn away most of the skin and muscle. **"No!"** Dracula stepped back and his leg gave out.

Connar took the moment to strike and punched Dracula in the side of the head. The force of the hit and explosion caused Dracula to be thrown even further back, even burning away to uncover bits of his skull.

**"How?"** Dracula struggled to get up, his injured leg would hold his weight. **"How can you be so strong?! When did that will'o come from?!"**

Connar uppercutted Dracula and sent him back to the ground.

Will'o glowed around Drucula as he tried to stand. **"You think, you're the only one who can use will'o?"** Dracula's leg was weak but the will'o helped him stand, he ran to Connar with his fist covered in will'o and punched him in the face. Will'o exploding on impact.

Connar grabbed Dracula's wrist and broke it in one squeeze. Dracula pulled his arm back and saw Connar was unharmed. **"How, why is this happening?!"**

"I fight for something bigger then myself." Connar punched Dracula in the stomach, his impaled Dracula and will'o burned him as it coursed through Dracula's veins. "I fight to keep monsters like you at bay." Connar uppercut Dracula, causing him to stumble back until the will'o blow up his throat.

"But above all also, I will never, NEVER, forgive you!" Will'o flared over Connar's body, it shined the brightest over his boots, arms, and torso, even started to form a circle behind him. "For hurting my Elfy!" Connar almost flew towards Dracula and threw his fist into his face.

Dracula's entire upper body was blown away from the force of the attack and the will'o burned away anything that remained.

With Dracula gone the will'o fog moved closer to Connar and flowed into him. The fallen felt his grow warmer, the fog cleared and a blue light shined before him.

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	66. Fruits of power

Chapter. 67

"I don't need anyone to tell me what to do?!" Alice shouted at her younger counterpart.

"You're lying to yourself. Everything you're done was because someone told you too."

"That's on true. Carlos, Natey and Leon said he wasn't good for me but I like him." Alice looked down at her hand. "He's a bit odd but he's a good person, I know it."

"He's bad for you, he's gonna betray you."

"Shut up!"

"Every time you lose control of your will'o you say you don't want to use them ever again but change your mind when someone tells you to try again."

Alice put her hands over her ears. "Stop it!"

"You need someone to tell you what to do." The younger Alice held out her doll. "This is you, waiting for someone to play with you."

"Stop it! Stop it please!"

"Alice." Alice turned to see two people looking at her.

The woman had red hair in a bun with a right side braid and a light pink frilly tunic with light pink frilly pants and white shoes.

The man wore a dark blue jacket with a white t-shirt along with black dress pants and shoes. His hair color was black and heterochromia eye colors: right eye bright blue and left eye bright green.

"Who-"

"You don't even know your own parents? They're calling you Alice, you're on the brink of life and death. You can go with them and end all your pain. No more fighting."

"But, the others."

"Leave the fighting to Connar, he's spilled enough to drowned in it. If you keep fighting you'll grow numb to it. Soon taking a life won't mean anything to you, so why not end it here and be happy with your parents."

Alice was having trouble resisting the offer. She did want to know her parents but they were taken before Alice had the chance. She was about to take a step when she thought she saw Natalie.

The officer was crying, then she was arguing with Connar and ran his wrist blade into her neck. Alice could feel that this vision could be trusted. If Alice were to die here it would her Natalie and she'd blame Connar, who was looking for a reason to kill her.

"I can't."

"What?!" The young Alice was surprised. "Freedom is right before you! If you go back you'll live the rest of your life as a slave to the needs of others."

"That's what humanity is, we help each other. If we lose that then we're just animals." An aura of will'o formed over Alice. "We're all gonna die someday, I'll meet my parents then. For now the world needs me, my panoticon needs me, my friends need me."

Alice then took the doll away from the girl. "Will'o let's us reach beyond our limits. I'll live my life the way I want to, I'm a fallen and I'm proud to be one." Alice ripped the doll's head off and the world was fading into a bright light. "Because it means I can made a different."

...

Back in the real world the enemy sinners were closing on their prey. Mattias was out of ammo while Beatrice was almost out herself.

Leon spent the last minute checking Alice's condition. The stood up and threw off her helmet then covered her face with her hands. "Alice, what's-"

Alice's tiger began to move and ran at the enemy sinners, slashing and biting them apart.

"Alice?" Asked Beatrice.

Connar got up as well and took off his helmet. He tossed it aside and placed his hand on the ground with his other hand on his face. His spider sprung to life and launched missiles at the sinners as they tired to run.

one of the sinners used their thorn to retrieve a rocket launcher but the tiger abductor caught it with it's teeth and snapped it in half.

The spider abductor leaped into the air and landed in the middle of the sinners, flattening most of them. The machine rapidly spun around and released webs around it to trap the sinners.

Alice's tiger floated into the air as a blue ring of will'o formed over it. Connar's spider slides away and the tiger fired a barrage of will'o. Killing the remain sinners.

The others were stunned by the display. Leon scanned Alice's body to find her will'o levels were higher then they've ever been. "Alice? Alice!" The accessory held the girl by her arms. "Please be calm, your will'o is spiking!"

"I'm fine Leon." The girl looked up at her accessory. "It's not hurting."

"Alice?"

"What?"

"Connar!?" Beatrice was backing away for her cousin as he got to his feet. The thief shook his head and lowered his hands.

Mattias held his gun at Connar, knowing it was empty. "Oh no. Dracula."

"No." Connar's voice was calm but it didn't help everyone's nerves. "That beast is gone."

"Then why are you're eyes glowing?'

"What?" Connar looked down at a puddle of rain water, in its reflection Connar's eyes were now a sky blue with a slight glow, just like the color of will'o.

Alice did the same, she saw her eyes were indeed glowing but her could still see their normal colors.

"Alice are you feeling alright?" Asked Leon.

"Yeah, I think..." Alice started moving her arms. Her body felt stronger like when she used her will'o but it was more natural to her now, to her this was the new normal. "I feel better. Great even."

Connar took off his control gear and looked at his abductor. The machine moved about the area, spinning, jumping, and sliding in random directions.

"Connar?" Beatrice asked again.

"I can't hear the white noise. Controlling my abductor is taking no real effort now."

As Alice watched the spider move she also took off her control equipment and glanced at her robot. The tiger turned to Alice and ran towards her. It slowed at it got closer until it was right in front if its master.

Alice reached out and pet her machine. "This is way easier now."

Beatrice was in wonderment as she watched. "Something about that lightning strike must have done something to your abductor's and the will'o feedback might have triggered you will'o closer to the surface. But how can this be? How could electricity change the AI guiding system?"

"Okay, That's enough!" Mattias wasn't hiding the fact that his head was hurting from Beatrice's thoughts.

Connar looked at his hands and will'o formed over them. "I killed my other half for this, I can't waste this gift." Connar looked to the sky. _"Mom, dad, keep watching as I keep fight to make something of myself."_

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	67. Rage of red and will'o

Chapter. 68

"Alert! We have Hourai forces closing in!" Reported Leon.

"How many?" Asked Connar.

"Two dozen, there doesn't seem to be any abductors with them."

"Fine with me." connar drew his chainsaw sword. "You up for more practice Alice?"

"Yeah! I want to see how far we can take this!"

"Mattias, Beatrice! You two head back and report in. We'll clean up here."

"We-" Mattias started to speak but Alice glared at him.

"You're out of ammo. You think you'll be any good two dozen sinners ready to fight?"

"Okay I get."

Connar stood and inch away for the pink haired sinner. "You look after my cousin or I'll put your head on a pike and hang it outside your cell, you read me?"

Mattias backed away and ran for it with Beatrice right behind. "You two be safe!" She shouted.

Connar and Alice leaped onto their abductors as Leon got some distance to record what was about to happen.

...

The sinner arrived to find an empty factory. The sinners began to fan out to check the area. After a few minutes the sinners regrouped when one of them was shot in the head. The sinners looked around and saw Connar's spider clinging to a large concrete wall and jumped at them.

Some of the sinners were crushed by the metal arachnid while the others ran but were stopped when Alice's tiger came down form on top of the smoke towers.

As the tiger ran down the tower and landed on the ground Alice held up her sniper and shot another sinner.

Connar grappled a sinner and pulled them closer to slice them down as his spider killed more with missiles. "This is too easy, but way more fun."

Alice's tiger swung its claw to ripper two sinners to pieces. "Honestly, I think I'm enjoying this."

_"Alice, there's an abductor coming in fast, unknown."_ Leon contacted his sinner.

"What do you-" Missiles came flying towards Alice, her tiger ran and jumped to dodge them and get closer to Connar. "Watch where you're aiming!" Connar didn't look at her, he was glaring angry with his fist tightly clinched. "Connar?" She glanced to where he was looking and gasped.

Walking through the smoke was Red Rage with Abel on its shoulder.

Abel patted his katana over his shoulder. "Oh? So you're the ones who killed my comrades. And your eyes are glowing? You two really are something different. And you even went as far getting your own abductors? They say intimation is the highest form of flattery."

Connar drew his assault rifle and pointed it at Abel with one hand. "Or it's a slap in the face. This is the latter." Connar fired his gun while his abductor launched all of its remaining missiles.

Red Rage put up its hand to protect Abel and fired its own missiles to counter Connar's.

"Alice, I'll try to get Abel away from Rage. You keep that robot busy."

"Why do you get to fight Abel?"

"We both know you're better at controlling an abductor. But I'm better in a sword fight, and that's the only way we kill him. Not while he's got that invincible wall carrying him."

"Fine. What the plan?"

Connar's spider charged head long into Red Rage, the biped abductor held out its hand and stop the spider's offensive. Abel came down from his abductor and landed on Connar's. He swung his sword downward and blocked with his gun and swung with his own sword as his abductor backed away from Red Rage.

Red Rage grabbed the spider's front legs to keep it from getting away.

"I see what you're trying to do."

Connar grinned at Abel. "No you don't." Alice's robot tiger flew over the spider and collided with Red Rage, knocking it down. Alice pointed her gun at Red Rage and fired as her tiger clawed and bit but nothing was damaging it.

Red Rage punched the tiger in the side to get it off. Abel smirked at Connar and leaped off the spider as his abductor fired missiles and lasers. Connar jumped off his machine as well as it was destroyed by the overwhelming fire power.

"You think you can separate me and my abductor?"

"I did, and she'll keep it that way."

Alice threw a sticky grenade at Red Rage, after it exploded her tiger swung it claw at the biped's leg to trip it.

Able watch the event and chuckled. "Fine. She thinks she can do it, who am I to deny her some fun." Abel snapped his fingers and Red Rage turned to face Alice.

_"Connar you better win this."_ Alice drew the machine further away.

Abel spun his sword and grinned. "This will do. It's just you and me. Time to raise some hell!"

Connar rushed at Abel, on the way he used his thorn to grab a short sword. "I'll split you in two!" Connar clashed his swords against Abel's, the chainsaw's teeth got stuck on the katana and the motor broke apart. Connar backed away as one of the teeth cut the side of his head, almost hitting his eye.

Abel took the opportunity to slash at Connar's midsection, and cut him in half. Connar reversed the grip on his sword, blocking the attack. "How would you like to die sinner?"

"Don't make me laugh!" Connar extended his hidden blade and stabbed Abel, with the same hand he punched Abel in the face and shoved him away. Connar dropped his sword and lunged at Abel with his blades. "It's over Abel!"

"Not yet!" Abel caught Connar' by his wrists. The two struggled for a bit until Abel headbutted Connar.

The retrieved their swords and rapidly swung their weapons. Sparks flew from where their swords met. Abel found an opening and punched Connart in the head.

Connar used the momentment and struck Abel in the head with the back of his fist and the two were back to the sword clash. "Fall!" mirroring each other the fighters punched each other in the face. They staggered back for a moment then locked blades.

Abel slowly angled his sword closer to Connar's neck. Connar pushed the swords up and kicked Abel in the chest. Moving the swords cut Connar's cheek, the thief ignored it and drop kicked Abel, knocking him down. Connar back rolled onto his feet and threw his sword.

Abel sat up and the sword flew past him, cutting the side of his neck.

Connar ran towards Abel with is blades ready. Abel's sword let out a faint blue light. He swung his katana, launching a sword beam of will'o.

Connar dropped to his knees and leaned back to evade the attack. As the thief got back on his feet Abel Leaped at him, bring his sword down. "Show me what you're made of, sinner!"

Connar crossed his blades to catch the sword. "My name. Is Connar!" Connar moved the blades down to the side, in the same motion he kicked Abel away. Connar used his thorn to pick up a spear and was on the offensive.

Abel regained his senses and dodged Connar's spear, slashing the head off the weapon.

Connar swung the handle but Abel evade around him and sliced into Connar's back. "Don't die yet!" Taunted Abel as his opponent fell. Abel raised his sword for the final blow.

"You wish!" Connar reached for a great sword, he rolled on his back and held up the weapon.

As Abel pushed his weapon down Connar kicked him in the groan. Abel backed away in pain, letting Connar stand back up.

Abel was having trouble standing but could barely block Connar's attacks. "Not bad, you fight dirty. With a little more training you'd make a worth rival."

"Go to hell!" Shouted Connar.

"Come on, you need to enjoy this a bit more!" Abel leaped away as Connar brought his sword down, crushing the pavement.

"You need to shut up and die!" Connar spun around to build up speed and cleave Abel in half. Abel held out his left arm to block with his thorn.

The swords impact pushed Abel's arm against his side, the thorns pierced into his body. "Ahhh!" Abel dropped his weapon and held his side with both hands.

"Die already!" Connar dropped his weapon and extended his blades, he thrusted his blades into Abel's chest and shoved him away. Connar used his thorn to grab a blaster and Abel used his thorn to get his katana.

Abel flung his katana at Connar, the thief let go of the blaster and blocked the sword with his thorn. The katana's blade grinded on the thorn, leaving will'o on it.

When the sword slid over the thorn the will'o built up and connected. The will'o exploded and launched Connar back. Abel got up and retrieved his sword. Connar couldn't move his right arm, the burns were causing intense pain. He got up and backed away as Abel walked towards him. "You fought well, Connar was it?"

"Shut the hell up! I'm still standing!" Connar picked up his great sword and swung.

Abel easily side stepped the attack then up swung his sword, cutting into Connar's upper body. Connar, fell backwards with his hand on his wound. Abel felt dizzy and needed to take a knee, he looked down to see he was losing blood from his injuries as well.

Abel closed eyes as he raised his hand to his forehead. "Well played, trying to bleed me out."

Red Rage shoved Alice and her tiger aside and ran to Abel. The machine picked up its master and retreated. "I had fun fighting you Connar, I look forward to our next encounter!"

"Abel!" Connar rolled onto his stomach and pushed himself up. He took out his gun but his vision was blurring until he passed out with half closed eyes.

"Connar!" Alice rode her tiger to the thief, she climbed down her abductor and healed him with her thorn. "Come on, I need to get you back!" The tiger picked up Connar with its mouth and swallowed him, freezing him in golden will'o Alice climbed back on the abductor to get Leon and ride back to their panopticon.


	68. Try better

Chapter. 69

Connar sat on his bed as Alice bandaged his right arm. His body was healing quickly because of his new will'o abilities but Alice wanted to be sure.

"You okay Connar? You've been quiet for the past ten minutes."

"I'm fine. How long was I out?"

"A few hours, you'r body needed the rest. You've been pushing yourself to hard lately."

Connar played his fight with Abel over and over in his head, looking for anything he could've done different. _"The bastard is just better then me. Even with this new power."_

"All done." Alice packed up her medkit. "You need to rest for now, You were cool today Connar." Leon opened the cell door for Alice and the two left.

Connar flexed his fingers, his arm still hurt but the pain was subsiding. He opened his weapon locker to see what he had. With his chainsaw broken Connar looked for a new sword. He picked up a short sword and gave it a swing. "Fine but I need something... Bigger."

Connar reached for another weapon and took out a katana. As he pulled it out more memories formed in his head. Connar was in a training hall fighting off waves of accessories, each one cut down with a black katana. The accessories came from all sides but Connar wasn't having trouble fighting them.

The memory ended and Connar felt his grip on his weapon relax. He held it with both hands and swung it down. "Why does it feel so familiar? Deveja's skills must really have bleed into me." Connar sheathed the katana in his will'o case and walked out of his cell.

As Connar walked to the lift people around him were keeping they're distance. It became normal for Connar after they started calling him Dracula but something was different now. Now they ran for it the moment he glanced at anyone.

"Whatever." Connar opened the lift and rode it to the warrens.

As the doors opened Connar heard fighting all around him. He drew his gun and walked slowly into the plaza, when he got there he was stunned beyond belief.

The giant TVs in the warren were all showing his fight with Abel. Everyone was watching the fighting, talking how brave or suicidal Connar was.

He walked out into the when someone saw him and started clapping. Soon others joined in until everyone was clapping.

Connar smiled confusingly, he was uses to everyone hating and fearing him. Now they loved him.

"That was so cool."

"You were incredible!"

"You're a damn fool. But a good fool."

The crowed formed around Connar, everyone asking him questions about his fight. Not wanting to deal this them the thief leaped over the crowed and ran to the lower level. _"How the hell did I do that?!" _When he was sure he lost them Connar rested against a concrete pillar. It was the same one he and Elfriede were punching.

"Elfirede!" Connar stood up and began searching for her. His accessory wasn't with him so he'd have to do it the hard way. As he ran his chest and back were hurting again. Connar stopped by an alley to wait for the pain to go down. "There's got to be a better way then this." The fallen looked down the alley to see Uwe standing in a clearing. "And there it is."

Connar walked through the alley to get to the veteran. "Uwe have you seen Elfy?" Uwe spun around and punched Connar, sending him back ten feet. "What was that for?!"

Uwe came running towards Connar. The thief make a thorn wall to protect himself, Connar got back on his feet and drew his katana.

Uwe dashed around the wall and punched again this time Connar blocked with his sword. "You're not goning near my daughter again."

"That's for Elfy to decide, not you!"

Uwe advanced with each punch, with his burned arm Connar couldn't block the full force of Uwe's attacks. "She doesn't want to see you."

"I'll believe that when I hear her say it to me."

"So you can hurt her again?"

Connar held his ground, he used his will'o to strength himself to shove Uwe away. "That was an accident!"

"Caused by you losing control of you're will'o."

"You think I don't know that?!" Connar brought his hand to his chest. "It eats me up inside knowing I almost..." Connar couldn't bring himself to say it. "I have better control of my will'o now. This thing inside me won't decide my fate!"

Uwe then noticed Connar's glowing eyes."What happened to you?"

"There's was... I don't really know. My abductor was hit with lightning and I had control of my will'o and this eyes. Right now I need to find Elfy and talk to her and tell her I'm sorry."

"So that's it? You're just gonna tell her you're sorry?"

"What else would you have me do?! I have to do something."

"Can you promise that Elfriede will never get hurt?"

"Can you?"

"That's not what I asked."

"How's it any different?" Uwe couldn't think of an answer. "How do you expect me to protect Elfy when you can't even do it?" Uwe threw a punch much harder then before, Connar evaded the attack and leaped away. "I can't promise that Elfy won't get hurt, but I'll damn well try. You need to put more faith in your daughter. She doesn't need some to protect her, just someone to watch her back. And that's what I plan to do."

"Then prove it." Uwe took up his fighting stance. "Show me that you can still fight along side my daughter."

Connar threw his sword aside, letting it slide away. "I'm not gonna fight you. I've got nothing to prove to you."

Uwe broke out laughing. "Dracula not wanting to fight? I guess miracles do exist." Uwe walked up to Connar then threw a punch. Connar didn't move and let the attack come at him. Uwe stopped his fist just before it connected. "You, you weren't gonna evade?"

"I'm not gonna fight you."

Uwe lowered his arm. "You're either brave of insane."

"There's no bravery without maddness."

"Then you'd be the bravest one here." Uwe patted Connar's shoulder and stepped back.

The thief heard someone running towards him from behind, Connar turned and was tackled by Elfriede, knocking him down. Connar pushed himself up into a sitting position then put his hand on the back of her head. "I'm sorry."

"Just shut up." Elfriede pounded her fist on his chest. "Just get better at your will'o." Elfriede got off of Connar to let him stand. "What happened to you?"

"I-"

Elfriede punched Connar in the stomach. "And what were you thinking, fighting Abel alone?! You could've gotten killed!"

"I have to fight him eventually Elfy." Connar looked at Elfriede's torso. "You, your, ah..."

"It's healed. Will'o can do almost anything."

"I need your help, both of your help."

Uwe crossed his arms. "For what?"

"I almost had Abel, I planned to get him away from his abductor but after that..."

"You didn't think he'd be better then you."

"You don't need to rub it in. I have to get stronger, I'd like to get some training sessions with you two, anything to get better."

Uwe grunts to agree. "Alright, but after your arm heals."

"And after you tell us about your fight with Abel." Pointed Elfriede.

"Didn't you two watch it?"

"We want to hear it from you too. Anything you can tell us about Abel will help our chances of living when we run meet again."

Connar shrugged. "Fair enough, I guess."

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	69. Promises

Chapter. 70

Alice and Leon knocked on Nataile's door, hoping she was home. As the door opened Natalie pulled Alice inside into a tight hug. After a moment Natalie let go of the sinner and slapped her across the face. "What the hell were you thinking, taking on Abel?!" Natalie then noticed Alice's glowing eyes. "And what happened to you?!"

"First." Alice slapped Natalie. "You don't hit me. Second, Abel was a surprise, Plus Connar and I repelled him. As for my eyes... Something happened and now I have full control of my will'o. No more worry of losing myself to the power."

"How did it happen?"

Alice and Natalie sat in the officers living room as Alice told her story of what happened, but let out the immaterial plane, saying it was only a dream. While they spoke Leon got the both of them drinks.

"They seemed happy, like it was okay." Alice finished her story with a sigh. "I guess death in the final peace."

"I'm sure they're proud of you. Is there a way to make... 'this' go away." Natalie gestured to Alice's eyes.

"I don't know or care. This is who I am, a fallen. Like it or lump it."

"You sound just like your parents."

"That good or bad?"

Natalie stood up and went into her room. A moment later Natalie returned with a scrapbook, a golden locket with rose stems wrapped around it and a key with a red rose on the end of it. "Here." Natalie sat down and gave the items to Alice.

Alice opened the book to see photos of a younger Natalie and two others. "This is..."

"Your parents, when they were still with me. When I became an officer I pulled some images from my accessory and made these to remember them." The photo showed Natalie standing beside two people. "Your mother Rosawyn was so strong headed, Matthew wasn't one to take a joke before meeting Rosawyn. Something about them just made the other one more gentle."

"What's with the pendent?" Alice took the rose key and opened the locket, inside was a white rose. "Rosawyn brought it with her."

"It's from On High. Where's the rings?"

"Rings?"

"Connar and Elfriede have something like this. Beatrice said it was an engagement thing. One would hold the key while the other held the locket, and after they did something they'd be married."

"Odd." Natalie took the locket and examined it. "Rosawyn had it but never said anything about it or where she got it."

_"Was mother engaged to someone else?"_ The thought shook Alice to the core. "Did mom talk about her time in On High?"

"She never wanted too so we stopped asking. Said she was happier on the surface." Natalie held out the locket to Alice. "Take it, give it to someone you think is right for you."

"Natey..."

"You were right, I can't keep babying you. You need to learn to be your own person and if that means making mistakes then that's fine as long as you learn from them."

Alice started to cry as she hugged Natalie. "I love you Natey, I'll always need you."

Natalie returned the hug, brushing the sinner's hair with her fingers. "I love you too. Thank you Alice."

Calls were coming in for Natalie but Leon blocked them to let his human companions have their moment of peace.

...

The next day Alice was over watching the repairs of her's and Connar's abductors. Julien climbed up the stairs to report. "You're abductor is nearly finished and should be done by the afternoon. Connar's... It'd be better to just scrap it for parts and get a new one."

"It's that bad?"

"From Leon's video feed the abductor took several direct hits from Abel's Red Rage. It'd take more time trying to get it back in working order then getting a new and starting over."

"I'll go tell him then. Thank you Julien. Leon?"

"At your side Alice." Leon followed his sinner as she left the repair bay to the warren.

On the surface the lift door opened and Alice walked head first into someone. "Sorry!"

"Watch it." The person turned out to be Carlos. "Hey sweet thing."

"Hi Carlos." Alice leaned closer to give the sinner a quick kiss. "How are you?"

"I could ask you the same. What happened to you're eyes, you put lights in your head?"

Alice gave a small laugh. "No I..." Alice sighed. _"Why do I have to explain things over and over. It's like no one can be in the same place."_ Alice took a deep breath. "Okay, but first I'd like to do it somewhere private."

"Fine by me." Carlos followed Alice and Leon to the fueling station. Alice repeated her story to Carlos on how she got her control over her will'o. Carlos leaned back in his chair and whistled. "That's one hell of an accident, so no more consern for how much juice you pump into your will'o abilities?"

"Yes, and it's so... good, better then good. Better then better if that's possible. It's like I'm awake to everything, stuff is clearer, sounds are sharper, and it's like I can see thinks coming."

"She means her reaction time has been improved." Commented Leon.

Alice reached into her dress pocket and took out the rose locket. "I want you to have to have it."

"What's this?"

"It's something from my mother, it's a promise when we finish this war we're having with Hourai we could... We could someday..." Sirens blared outside the fueling station. Everyone ran outside to building in the warren being destroyed

Percy appeared on the screens scattered around the warren, it's voice echoed throughout the area. "Everyone! We're under attack from On High! We got a Retribution on our hands!"

The sky was quickly dotted with robotic dragons and tigers, all looking to take whatever resources they could find.

"Leon!" Alice spun to her accessory. "My abductor!"

"It's repaired enough to fight."

Alice drew her spear and closed her eyes, calling her machine. As this went on a dragon came down and landed on the other side of a nearby building.

"We need to go!" Shouted Carlos. He took off running for safety as another dragon landed. It roared at his as a metal tiger pounced at it and dug its claws into the dragon's neck, severing it's head.

Alice leaped over Carlos and landed on her abductor then used her thorn to pull Carlos next to her, followed by Leon. "Get out you guns boys! Time to be heroes!"

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	70. Reunion

Chapter. 71

Connar threw a left hook at Uwe who blocked with his arm then countered with a jab to Connar's chest. "You can't open with something like that."

"Right." Connar held up his fists. He rushed at Uwe with a jab but the veteran dodged, with one kick Uwe swiped Connar's feet out from under him and he fell.

"You're legs are too close together."

Connar got on his feet and held up his fists again. "Understood."

Elfriede watched Connar and Uwe go at it in their training spar. Uwe was being tougher on Connar then he was with Elfriede though she figured it was to get back at Connar for hurting her. Elfriede just shrugged, knowing that tough training made tough fighters.

Uwe throw a punch and Connar did the same, their fists connected and Connar immediately pulled back. "AHHH!" Connar held his hand, feeling some of his bones fracker. Connar's will'o began to heal the injury.

"How are you doing that?"

"I don't know, it's going on its own." When the will'o faded Connar's hand was fully healed. Uwe threw another punch at Connar. The fallen put up his arms and will'o coated them.

Uwe stopped himself from hitting Connar. As he pulled back Connar lowered his arms and the will'o faded. "It seems to appear when you're endanger."

"Or in times of great emotion." Muttered Connar.

Sirens blared everywhere in the warrens. Percy appeared on the screens scattered around the warren, its voice echoed throughout the area. "Everyone! We're under attack from On High! We got a Retribution on our hands!" The sky was quickly dotted with robotic dragons and tigers, all looking to take whatever resources they could find.

"Look alive everyone!" Uwe put on his brass knuckles. Elfriede did the same with Connar drew his sword.

One of the dragons stopped midflight and came down where the sinners were. As the dragon landed in the open area, the machine roared then lowered its head, revealing Sylvia on its back.

"Elfriede, Uwe, go help anyone you can."

"But-"

"Do it!" Will'o flared off of Connar's body.

"Alright." Elfriede took off with her father right behind.

Sylvia leap off her abductor and drew her spear.

Connar drew his katana and gave it a low swing. "Long time no see cousin."

"I don't have a cousin."

"Just like you don't have a sister? Is that what they teach you up at On High? Abandon people if they don't fit your needs?" Sylvia dashed at Connar with her spear held high, Connar swung his sword horizontally to block. "Touch a nerve did I?"

"Shut the hell up you fallen!"

"You know what I am?" Sylvia didn't answered and backed away, she pointed at Connar and her dragon to breath fire. Connar held up his right arm and wall of will'o rose up to defend him.

As the fire stopped the will'o soon followed, Connar dashed at Sylvia, she thrusted her spear at him but Connar slid under Sylvia's spear and hit her in the back of her legs with the blunt side of his sword.

"Answer me this, what are you after?" The dragon swung its claw at Connar. "You too?" Connar back flipped over the claw and cut into the dragon's leg to sever it.

Sylvia got back on her feet and lunged at Connar. The thief used his hidden blade to counter the spears edge. "If this was just about resources then why would they send you?" Sylvia pulled her spear back for a spin slash, Connar placed his sword on his back to block. "Is it me you're after? On High afraid of me?"

"Shut up!" Sylvia back off as her dragon took flight to breath fire. Connar chased after Sylvia, the dragon held back its fire as Connar was too closer to its master. Sylvia stopped and spun around to behead Connar.

Connar ducked under the spear and lunged at Sylvia, grabbing her by her shirt collar. "Then why are you here?"

"Like I'd tell you!" Sylvia drew a flare knife and stabbed Connar in the side, followed by a kick to get him away. "All of you dirty surface dwellers need to know your place and die like the trash you are!" Sylvia swung her spear.

"Know our place?" Connar blocked the attack with his thorn. "We're trash?" Will'o blazed over Connar's hands, spreading to his sword. "What the hell would you know?" Connar swung his sword at Sylvia, she blocked with her spear but the force of the attack knocked her off balance. Connar felt a presents within him, guiding his movement. He grabbed the knife and pulled it out, his injury quickly healed.

Images of On High flashed before Connar's eyes, images of the people of On High enjoying peaceful lives without war of any kind. "You don't know what it's like down here! What it's like to see the people close to you die, knowing it'll be you one day!"

Images of people talking as they eat without a care. "What's like to wake up every day in a grey box?" Connar's anger and his will'o grew as the images appeared before him. "What it's like to be hungry!" With each of swung his sword Connar was pushing Sylvia back.

Images of people spending time with their families. "Growing close to your friends, family, enemies. Knowing they'll die at any God given moment?" Swung lowered his katana and swung upward, the attacked knocked Sylvia's spear out of her hands and into the air.

Connar grabbed Sylvia by the collar. "You have everything you need so why attack the surface?" Connar hurled her into the air.

Sylvia used her thorn to grapple to her dragon's neck. The dragon swung its head and slingshot Sylvia back at Connar, retrieving her spear in the arc.

Sylvia rapidly spun to build up speed for her strike. The fallen blocked her spear with his sword and punched Sylvia in the stomach. Sylvia lost air in her lungs, Connar lowered his fist to drop Sylvia on the ground then kicked her in the ribs, cracking one of them.

"Are you that impatience? You need your lives even more comfortable then what they are?" Connar raised his sword to strike down.

Sylvia held up her spear to block. Connar slammed his weapon into hers, he raised it again and struke again. "What makes you more worth to live then these down here, fighting to make this world better? Tell me!"

Sylvia's arms were getting weaker with each hit. "Tell me how!" The spear was begin to bend with each hit. "Tell me why!" Sylvia turned her head away as speaks came closer with each hit. "Tell me now!"

The dragon roared as it lunged at Connar. The fallen's blade glowed with will'o, without looking Connar swung his sword behind him and a beam of will'o came out of his weapon. The beam sliced through the dragon's mouth, cutting through its neck until the machine was split in half.

"TELL ME!" Connar raised his sword, he brought it straight down and broke Sylvia's spear in half. Sylvia shut her eyes as the blade came for her.

She felt dirt touch her face, Sylvia opened her eyes to see Connar staring down at her, eyes hidden behind flaring will'o, his blade cut into the ground less than an inch from her ear. "Because right now. You're less worth to live then the millions who died fighting trying to make their piece of the world just a little better."

Sylvia was frozen in fear, see glanced to her abductor and Connar held his hidden blade between her eyes. "Leave. Tell Lucius the archangel is coming." Connar moved his hidden blade aside and leaned down to whisper in her ear. "If you ever return, cousin or no, I'll make you regret it. I will take you to the brink of death and deny you its embrace. For the rest of your long, abject, excruciating life."

Another dragon landed near the two. Connar lifted Sylvia and threw her to the dragon's mouth. The abductor swallowed Sylvia to be stored in will'o and took off. Soon followed by the rest of the invading force.

Connar felt his head throbbing as if his head was going to burst. The thief raised his hand to the side of his head. _"Devaja, and I just got rid of one demon."_ Connar looked up at the sky to watch On High still retreating. _"On High. They're the ones who made this mess."_

Connar pointed his sword to the sky. "Just you wait, because I'll be the one to bring your fortress down."

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	71. Lost control

Chapter. 72

Alice and her companions rode into the battle on her abductor tiger. On High sinners and abductors were stealing citizens and killing anyone in their way.

"Alice!" Shouted Leon. "I'm in their communications, the heavies of the fight is here."

The three climbed down from the abductor. "How did you do that?"

"As your father made me, your mother still knew some of On High comm channels. I can listen in on their orders."

Carlos laughed as he readied his spear. "That will be a help, now we can avoid the worse of it."

"No." Alice drew her rifle. "We have to help, how ever we can."

"Hey, hey, hey! You can't just go running to the thick of it. Fallen or no that's a death sentence."

"I have to, what's the point of being a fallen, someone with the power to fight if I can't do something?" Alice ran into the battle with her tiger at the her side. Leon held his rifle and chased after her.

"What am I gonna do?" Carlos sighed and followed as well.

An enemy sinner chased after a citizen, as they were about to grab them Alice's tiger caught the sinner in its the teeth, crushing them in half.

Alice used her will'o to boost her comrades, Will'o auras cover Leon and Carlos. Loen aimed at a spider abductor and opened fire, each bullet exploded on impact. Carlos choice to go close range with the On High sinners, with Alice's aura over him each of his attacks that connected left a splash of will'o that exploded on the enemy.

_"Target alpha is engaged with the commander! Target bravo is spotted, move in to eliminate!"_ Leon listened in on On Highs communication. "Alice, Carlos! The enemy is looking for two targets!"

"What are they?" A robot dragon landed on Alice's tiger and carried it into the air. "Leon!" Alice and her accessory aimed at the dragon's wings, each bullet exploded on impact and ripped the wings.

The dragon crashed to the ground. Alice commanded her abductor to dig its claws into the dragon, Alice fired on the dragon's arm and blow it to pieces. Her abductor was freed and slashed across the dragon's chest, spilling its will'o.

_"The dragon is down, send in more abductors!"_ Two tiger abductors descended from the sky, one of them almost landed on Alice's abductor as the other landed in front of her and roared.

Alice switched to her spear as she and Carlos rushed the enemy tiger, both ducked as the lunged over them. Both turned and threw their spears into the tiger's hind legs to stop it then changed to their guns. "Aim for the knees!" Both fired at the back of the knees and shredded them off the tiger abductor.

As Alice and Carlos reloaded Leon fired at the tiger's head. With a few shots the machine's head was blown apart.

The second tiger battled with Alice's, the two machines stood on their hind legs with their front claws locked together as they bite at each other while evading being bitten.

Alice looked at her hand and held it out to her abductor. Her will'o connected to her abductor and empowered it enough to over take the opponent.

The tiger was pushed back and floated into the air to launch a rain of energy spheres. Alice used her thorn to create a thicket it wasn't enough to fully protect them. Leon stood in front of Alice to protect her as the thicket was destroyed.

"Leon!"

"I'm fine." Alice gaped when she saw Leon's right arm was ripped off and his right leg was damaged enough to reveal his metal parts.

"Where's-" Alice stopped as she saw Carlos on the ground, burns all over his body. When the thicket was destroyed Leon moved to protect her and Carlos move to protect both of them.

A sinner fired a rocket at the tiger the bring it down then was chased by it. Alice fell it her knees, she used her thorn to heal Carlos but to little effect.

Leon placed his hand on her shoulder. "Alice, we need to go."

Watching the destruction, the death, all of the loss, something within Alice snapped. She commanded her abductor to swallow Carlo. "This must stop."

"Alice?"

"This must stop!" Will'o erupted from Alice's body as her eyes were blanketed with a blue light and her hair began floating upward as if to defy gravity. Streams of will'o flowed to all of the On High sinners. Each of them dropped their weapons and screamed in agony. Alice walked through the battlefield, her will'o clinging to more sinners to bring them great pain until it killed them.

A tiger abductor leaped at Alice from a ledge, her own tiger pounced at it and tore open it will'o pod. The will'o drained out of the abductor and moved along the ground to Alice. With more will'o Alice spotted a dragon fight a group of sinners.

Alice held out her hand and the dragon's head started caving in on itself then the dragon's wings followed by the whole machine. Will'o burst for from the dragon and absorbed by Alice. The fallen levitated and drained the will'o off the dead sinners.

"Alice!" Shouted Leon. "Alice stop this!"

"Yes." Alice spoke with no emotion. Her will'o spread out looking for more On High sinners and their abductors. Sinners found by her will'o streams were thrown into intense pain then were drained of their will'o, the abductors were compressed into junk and also drained of will'o.

"Alice!" Leon reached up and grabbed Alice's hand to pull her back down. Alice lost her concentration and collapsed in Leon's arms.

Leon checked the enemy communication._ "Seventy three percent of forces lost! The commanding officer is down! Fall back!"_ The comm channel became a mess of noise as the On High sinners were breaking down in fear. All of the enemy forces were climbing onto their nearest abductor and retreated into the sky.

The battle was over but everyone around looked at Alice with their own fear of her.

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	72. Being feared

Chapter. 72

Alice awake in her cell, she sat up and held her head as a headache formed. "Easy." Leon gently laid Alice back down. "You've over used you're will'o and need to rest."

"How long have I been out?"

"All night. It's late morning now."

"I need some air." Alice sat up but Leon stopped her.

"It'd be best if you stayed here."

"I have to see what's going on after the attack."

"Do you remember what happened?"

"Carlos was hurt, I used my will'o and... nothing."

Leon raised his hand to his chin. "So you still haven't achieved full control. or maybe that's what happens when your will'o gains a new ability."

"Want do you mean?"

Leon waved his hand to Alice's wall screen. Alice was horrified by seeing all of the people she hurt. Even if they were enemies no deserved to suffer like that.

"I have to go!" Alice got up and ran to her cell door.

"Alice!" Leon chased her outside.

Alice quietly walked down the stairs and to the lift. As she walked Alice noticed that everyone in the cell area was giving her a wide berth, whispering as they think their far enough. Alice shivered as they glanced at her with fear, hate, and disgust.

"That's her, the one who killed all those sinners with magic."

"It wasn't magic it was will'o."

"What is she?"

"A witch, a witch of will'o."

Alice felt her skin crawl as the people spoke behind her back. She hammered on the lift call button as if to make it arrive faster.

The door opened and Alice rushed inside. As the lift moved Leon gently placed his hands on Alice's shoulders. "This is what I didn't want you to see."

"I saved them, why are they afraid of me? I helped them. I helped them!"

"I wish I knew Alice." The doors opened and the two were in the warrens. As they walked to the fueling station Alice again felt the prying eyes of everyone there. When Alice even looked in their duration they either froze, ran, or held their hands over their will'o cases.

Alice entered the fueling station and everyone stopped to look at her. "I'll get you're drink." Leon went to the counter to order as Alice took her seat.

The eyes of everyone dug into Alice, any that didn't immediately leave whispered about her, many times calling her a witch.

Alice was shaking with anger. She fought off On High, she's always helped ours. _"Why are they rejecting me?"_

"Here." Leon held out a soda to Alice.

Alice stood up and ran out of the fueling station. Outside Alice kept running through the warrens looking to get away from everyone.

Alice finally stopped in an alley and leaned on a wall. Leon quickly caught up to her. "Alice?"

"I need to see Connar."

"Okay." Leon scanned through the panopticon surveillance system to find the other fallen.

...

Alice wondered around the warren until she found the lower area, there she found Connar and Elfriede fight as Uwe watched.

"You're throwing your out too much!" Connar stopped to listen to Uwe and Elfriede punched Connar in the chest. "You also need to pay attention."

"Right." Connar straightened himself up and got into a fighting stance.

"Try punching the wall." Connar nodded and punched the side of a crumbling building, his fist broke through. "Again, harder." Will'o glowed over the fallen's arms. He struke the wall again, this time the side of the building was blown away from the will'o blast.

"That's better." Connar drew his katana which was then coated in will'o. Connar spun his blade the swung upwards to create a beam of will'o. The beam crashed into another building and destroyed it, revealing a destroyed dragon abductor.

Connar took out his gun and fired. The bullets ripped into the machine broken metal. Connar cover his gun in will'o as well and fired again, this time the dragon was torn to bits as each bullet detonated on impact.

The father and Doughtier clapped for Connar's progress. "You're getting much better at this Connar."

"It's because I had someone to help me." Connar sheathed his weapons. "Thank you, both of you."

"Now do you see you can't do everything alone?" Uwe crossed his arms.

"Yeah."

"Connar!" Alice called out and waved.

"Yes!"

"I need to speak to you!"

"Okay!" Connar turned back to Elfriede and Uwe. "Be back in a minute." He ran to see Alice who backed away around a corner. "What is it?"

"Alice needs your help." Stated Leon.

"What-"

"Everyone hates me!" Alice puched up against Connar, pounding her fists into his chest. "I helped everyone, I saved everyone. And they called me a will'o witch!" Connar snicked. "It's not funny!"

"Sorry, but it was catchy. So what's the problem?"

"What do you mean 'what's the problem'?"

"Just sit down and tell me what happened."

Alice talked about what people said as she walked around the warrens looking for Connar and Leon told him about what Alice did when her will'o went out of control. As Leon was finishing Alice was fighting back tears. "Why do they fear me. I didn't do anything to them."

"It's not what you did to them, it's what you CAN do to them."

"What?"

"After our run in with Abel and Leon showed to footage all over the panopticon everyone wants to talk to me. Paint me as some hero."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Well..." Connar drew his sword. "I fought Abel to a standstill with a sword, anyone can fight with a sword just pick one up and get to practicing." In his empty hand Connar conjured up will'o to blanket his hand. "Controlling will'o, being a fallen, we're something no one else can be. We can do things they can't, and that's why they're afraid. They're intimidated."

"Intimidated?"

Leon nods to agree. "He's right. There is data supporting that humans fear change and things outside the normal."

"Exactly, think about how the con lionizes stupidly, simplify, and anti-intellectual. You don't have right to think about your own freedom, just be another faceless, thoughtless life to throw out in this ending fight over resources that might not even be used to make things better."

"That's..."

"Not true?" Connar finished for her. "Remember my parents? Your parents? They were different and thought of how to change things for the better and what happened?" Alice remained silent. "Exactly. So people fear you, good. Let them fear you so when you do something so great that it shacks what normal people believe that fear turns to respect. They call you a will'o witch you use your power, turn to them and say 'so what' okay?"

"So what?"

"Yeah. So what if I'm not like you? So what if I'm a fallen? It means I can do things you can't, I can make something. I don't fit in your normal? Then I'll make a new normal."

"How will you do that?" Asked Leon.

"After Abel is under my boot, On High is next."

"How do plan to do that?"

Connar shrugged. "Hey, they keep throwing stuff at us, eventually we'll put something together with it all to get them. Hell with our will'o contently growing and changing maybe we'll get wings."

Alice let out a laugh. "That would be really cool to see."

"Hey I'd love to see you're soul fire ability too sometime."

"Soul fire?"

"That thing Leon said you did, hurting sinners with the will'o within them. You gotta start naming you abilities or people will get confused about them, or at the very least you won't have to explain what they do to talk to someone about them."

"Soul fire." The name sounded strong and beautiful to Alice.

"There's that smile. Come on, bring it in. you too metal man."

The three embraced for a group hug. Alice wiped away her tears. "Thank you for that. You're really sweet."

"After I got my will'o I felt less anger with everything. It's like seeing things with better eyes, if that makes sense."

"I know what you mean."

"Good." Connar rest his hands on his hips. "So when someone calls you a will'o witch?"

"So what?"

"There you go! See ya!" Connar ran back to Elfriede and Uwe.

"Feel any better?"

Alice looked at her hands, making them glow with will'o. "Yeah, way better." Leon smirked and ruffled Alice's hair.

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	73. Against the system

Chapter. 73

"Oh there you are!" Beatrice greeted Connar and Alice as they entered the fueling station.

With her was Kasumi. "It's a while since-"

"It's BEEN a while."

"Connar!" Alice struke Connar in his side with her elbow.

"It just annoys me when people use poor grammar." Alice pinched the bridge of her nose and Connar flicked her in the ear. "Hey, that my thing." Beatrice and Kasumi both sighed. "Anyway, what's this meeting for?"

"Well, I remembered what Cesare was researching just before he disappeared. So I did a little digging myself. It was to do with something call the casket."

Realization washed over Beatrice. "Wait... The thing Abel stole."

"That was the casket, an object of awesome will'o power." Alice notice Connar take on his thinking pose. "Something you want to share?"

"Think of the kind of power we could get when we get the casket. If it's as strong as what everyone is saying, we could roast On High in one shot!"

"Or it's something that could kill us all."

Kasumi let out a small chuckle. "Why not find out for yourself? All the data you need is on level six of the cell garden. Unless you're not bothered, of course."

Connar shrugged his shoulders. "Worth a shot."

"That's the spirit. Here's the pass code you'll need." Kasumi handed Alice the card.

"Thank you so much!" Beatrice gave a bow. The three sinners ran out of the station and back to the level six cell block.

...

Stepping into the cell garden Connar and Beatrice hid on one side of the door way as Alice and Leon were on the other. An accessory walked in and looked around. Connar extended his hidden blade and made jabbing motions to signal to Alice that he'd kill it.

Alice shook her head and drew her spear. Once the accessory turned its back Alice covered her spear in will'o and threw it. The spear impaled the accessory's back and blasted the machine apart.

Connar took Beatrice's hand and ran into the door then through the next door, with Leon on their tail. Alice ran after them and used her thorn to get her spear back as to not lose a step.

After passing several empty rooms they entered a room with an accessory in it. Connar lunged his hidden blade into the accessory's throat, letting it fall aside.

The sinners ran through a hall and stopped at the next door. Inside was a large room with three accessories patrolling. Connar held out a flash grenade. Once the three machines were together Connar threw the flash grenade, after the bang when off Connar ran in with his blades out.

The thief plunged his blades into two of the machines and pushed them down. Alice followed by gunning down the last one. With nothing in their was the sinners ran through the cell garden to the end. Finding a single terminal.

"Alright Beatrice, your part." Beatrice typed at the terminal, after a few keys Leon reached for her hands and a siren blared.

"The hell happened!?" Asked Connar.

"I don't know! I think I triggered some fail safe."

Leon listened in on the panoticon's comms. "We have a problem. Them are are coming."

"Them?" Asked Alice.

Connar grinned and drew his katana, coating it in will'o. "So the puppet master decide to show their faces. Beatrice! Leon! Grab the data and we'll go through when we get out of here."

"What about you?!"

Connar turned back to Beatrice as Alice stood at his side. The thief gave his cousin a thumbs up. "We're fallen, what's the worst they can do?"

Alice and Connar dashed into the hall to keep the fighting away form their team. "You know what you're will'o can do?"

A blue aura formed over Connar. "I can make myself faster."

"That's it?"

"Well, if things go south we got your soul fire, right?"

"Right..."

Enemies poured into the hall, sinners and accessories all dressed in white trench coats with black pants and shoes. The front two were armed with flamethrowers, four behind them armed with rocket launchers and a wave armed with assault rifles.

The fallen hid behind the door way as the rockets flew towards them. "Their organized I'll give them that."

"And the way their all dressed the same, so creepy." More rockets crashed into their cover, causing it to crack. "You got a plan?"

Connar drew his rifle. "Run and gun! Shot the flamers, dodge the rockets, keep moving so the bullets don't hit then get close enough to cut them down."

"I could you use soul fire here."

"Never open with your best weapon, their could be more and you never tested it I'm guessing."

"Okay."

The fallen dashed out the door way and opened fire on the sinners with flamethrowers, putting them down. More rockets were released and the two used their thorns to cling to the walls to evade.

Connar landed and created a thorn wall to protect Alice as she landed behind him. The enemy stopped to reload and the two leaned out from the sides of the thorn wall to shoot the targets with rocket launchers.

The sinners with rifles started shooting again. As the wall was breaking apart Connar tossed out another flash grenade. After the blast Alice and Connar ran towards the sinners and cut them down.

More sinners entered the hall, all armed with bent swords.

"Very foolish to get within my reach!" Connar slashed at the enemy, any of his attacks that didn't cut into the sinners left will'o on the sinner's weapon, destroying it and leaving them open for Connar to slash them.

Alice carefully swung her spear to disarm her opponents then thrust her spear into them for easy kills. "This isn't gonna end!"

Connar ducked under a sword swing and cut off his opponent's legs, followed with cutting their head off. "Sure it will, how many bodies can they throw at us before they run out?"

Alice raised her hand to her earpiece. "Leon are you done yet?!"

_"Almost. Hold them off of another minute."_

A sinner raised their sword and swung down at Alice. Connar got in front of the sinner and blocked with his sword. "You mind? The lady's got a call." Connar stabbed them with his wrist blade.

With the next wave of enemies Alice picked up one of the flamethrowers, as they came in through the door Alice unleashed a torrent of fire on them.

The rest that were too far were backing away. Connar picked up one of the rocket launchers. "That's what hell feels like!" Alice stepped aside and Connar fired at the sinner.

"Alice!" Leon and Beatrice came running behind them. "We have the data. We can leave."

"That might be problem."

"Then I think it's time." Connar sheathed his weapons. More sinners were coming towards them, Connar picked up two of the dead sinner's guns and opened fire.

"Okay. Soul fire." Alice held her hands together to focus, felt her body grow warmer. Her will'o flowed from her body and connected to their enemies. All of them dropped their weapons and fell to the ground in pain.

"Nice Alice. Alice?" Alice wasn't moving as she attacked the enemies will'o. "Okay then." Connar dropped his guns and picked up Alice, carrying her bridal style. "Move out people!"

Connar lead the way as they passed all of their would be opponent thriving on the ground in pain. _"If Alice can do all this, then who knows what I can do."_

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	74. Second strike

Chapter. 73

"Hey she's waking up!" Alice slowly opened her eyes, she was with her friends in the lower level of the warren. Connar held her as Leon looked her over. "How is she?"

"She's just tired, though not as much as last time."

Alice rubbed hand on the side of her head. "Did we get what we needed?"

"Leon?"

"The casket was discovered by Arcadia panopticon. Upon finding it they started researching it. The casket can generate a special will'o that can warp time and space."

"That's amazing!"

"Sounds wicked."

Leon nods to continue. "It became apparent that the disruptive power was enough to destroy an entire panopticon. As a result, the Arcadian authorities decided to turn it into a weapon that could be used to give them an advantage over the other panopticons."

"But it didn't go so well."

"Yes. They pushed ahead with a series of secret tests. But in their final test the casket became unstable."

"Hmm." Beatrice thought about the new information. "Abel must have known about this great loss when he stole the casket, must he not? Do you think his intention could be to bring about another one?"

"Could be, that guy is just a walking death machine." Connar looked at his hand as it glowed with will'o. "Still, we have to get it back from him."

"But why would my father have been so keen to investigate such a tragic object?"

"Let's go see Julien, maybe he can shed some more light on this matter." Connar helped Alice to her feet and handed her to Leon.

"Thank you. I'll take her back to her cell."

"No! I want to go too, I have to know what comes next!"

"Are you sure."

"I can handle myself. Besides, I have all of you here." Alice led the way to zakka.

"You're starting to rub off on her Connar."

"You say that like it's a bad thing."

...

The group approached the store as the man they were looking for came out. "Ah, there you are! I was about to call you Alice."

"What is it?"

"I've got some new information about Them. You know, the organization who were keeping Beatrice prisoner?"

"We just had a run in with them."

"Really? What happened?"

"Shots were fired. They're dead and we're not." Commented Connar. "So what did you find?"

"Well, it turns out they've got their own special database. But it's totally separate from utopedia, so I can't access it. Even the servers are in a completely different place."

"Then we'll just have to find them. You got a lead on that?"

"As a matter of fact I do. They're deep inside one of the restricted sector on level six of the cell garden. If you can get access to that database, you'll probably be able to find out why Beatrice was imprisoned."

Connar cracked his knuckles. "So Alice, you up for another attack?"

"That's easier said than done." Julien pointed out. "The security's super tight. That sector is guarded by an elite political bureau unit."

"A little danger need stopped me before. Alice and I will go take a look."

"I'm coming too!"

"No Beatrice. This is going to be pretty ugly after what we just did. You wait outside with Leon. Leave this to the fallen."

...

Everyone gathered outside of the level six cell garden entrance. Alice used her passcode to open the door. "We ready for this?"

"Not a problem." Connar drew his sword.

"The servers for their database are stored in one of the restricted sectors on this level of the cell garden. Security's pretty tight, and things'll probably be pretty hairy from the get go."

"Fine by me. The more we kill the closer we're getting." Connar and Alice walked into the garden, each with their weapons ready.

As the door behind them closed sirens started up again.

"Guess the stealth tactic is out." The two fallen ran through the door in front of them and were greeted by two accessories standing on ledges with rocket launchers.

Connar swung his sword to launch a beam of will'o at one while Alice threw her spear at the other. A sinner charged towards them with an assault rifle. Connar pulled them closer with his thorn and cut them in half.

"Did you really think that would work?" Connar let go of the sinner and sliced their head off. "Don't need to answer that."

The two dashed through the next, leading them into a long narrow hallway.

"Get down!" Alice tackled Connar to the ground and a hail of bullets flew over them.

Connar sat up and created a thorn wall. "Snipers!"

"They got us in a choke point."

"Stay behind me!" Connar poured will'o into his thorn wall. The wall grew larger and came out of the ground. Connar held out the wall as a shield and ran down the hall.

The sinner fired over and over but the bullets weren't getting through. The sinner stopped to reload their gun, when they looked up they were impaled by the wall's spikes.

Connar tossed the thorn wall aside and three more sinners came in, armed with a spear, a blaster, and a laser cannon.

Alice slid under the blasters fire and lunged her spear in the sinners' torso. Connar raised his sword to strike down the sinners spear and stab them with his wrist blade. Both fallen drew their guns as the laser cannon warmed up to fire and gunned down its carrier.

"That's why you don't use gun weapons in small place." Connar let out a laugh at Alice comment.

Three more sinners came in the hall, two armed with assault rifles and one with a katana. Alice and Connar shot the two with guns and advanced on the last one. Connar blocked his sword and Alice thrusted her spear into their side.

"Let's go!" Connar lead the charge down to another hall. The fallen slowed their passé to be ready any surprise. They reached the door to find on the other side were more sinners, all hiding behind barricades and armed with grenade launchers.

"Go up!" Alice used her thorn to latch on to the roof. Her move caught the attention of all the sinner, letting Connar move in and starting them down.

They turned their attention back to Connar and Alice shot two of the rocket launchers. Connar took away a grenade launcher from one of the sinners and bashed them in the head with it, cracking their skull. Sinners were starting to fall back but Alice threw a frag grenade at them and Connar point the launcher and fire on them as well.

Alice dropped from the roof next to Connar. "Nice work."

"You kidding me? We risk our lives out there fight a real war. These guys just get to hid in here, playing pretend soldier." Connar and Alice walked into the next room to find the terminal.

Alice typed at the terminal, looking for anything about the casket. After a while Alice punched the machine.

"Problem?"

"I can't read any of this!"

"Maybe it's in coded, let's get what we can and get it back to Julien."

Alice nods and begin transferring the data on to a portable drive.

...

Alice and Connar exited the cell garden and returned to their friend. "How did it go?" Alice answered by giving Julien the drive.

Julien connected it to his tablet to look at it. "Well, it's encrypted, obviously, but this is no ordinary encryption. In fact, I've never seen anything like this before."

Connar folded his arms. "So you're giving up before trying?"

"Not a chance! No engineer worthy of the name would turn down a challenge like this! It's been a while since I've had a chance to really stretch myself."

"Hey!" Everyone turned to the shout to find Elfriede coming towards them. "We need to talk. Hourai are up to their old tricks again."

"What is it this time?"

"Word is, their attacking Nog. Nog are our allies, so we've been asked to go help."

Alice gasped and covered her mouth. "That's where Carlos is from!"

"Yeah. Looks like their attacking in order. First us, then Nog."

"Is Carlos okay?!" Alice was starting to get concerned.

"Yeah. He's coming with us."

"Then what are we waiting for? Time to lock and load!"

"That's my line!" Elfriede and Connar ran off to the transport bay.

Alice couldn't help but smile at the closeness of her friends. "I hope Carlos and I can be like that."

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	75. The chase

Chapter. 75

The transport drove through a mild storm to its destination Nog. Inside were Connar, Alice, Elfriede, Leon, and Carlos.

"Blimey, look at this collection of long faces!" Carlos stood up waving his hands out at everyone with him. "What is this a funeral party?"

"It will be soon." Connar examined his katana then looked at his free hand. It glowed with will'o as he ran his fingers over the blade."

"Connar!" Shouted Elfriede. Connar removed his fingers as the will'o faded, showing her his hand was unharmed. "You got your will'o shield down?"

"Will'o armor. Been practicing it last night as now I can almost use it at will."

Alice shook her head and turned to Carlos. "You nervous Carlos?"

"Not at all! I'm looking forward to a good scrap!" Carlos looked around the transport to see everyone's wore a grim face. "You lot need to lighten up, you know. A tense fighter is a dead fighter, after all!"

"But how can we be calm? We could be fighting Abel."

"And? That doesn't change anything. We either survive or we don't, same as every other operation."

"I suppose." Alice felt uneasy.

Elfriede gave small chuckle. "He's got a point."

Connar started to rapidly tap his foot on the floor. "I can still feel the scars he gave me."

"You didn't have any scars." Commented Leon. "The will'o completely healed your wounds."

"But I can still feel them." Connar held his hand on his chest. "He's going to die by my hand."

"Connar." Alice put more force into her voice. "If we, no. When we run into him again. Please let me fight him." Connar was silent as he locked eyes with Alice.

The ride was silent for a moment until Connar looked away.

Carlos threw his hands up. "Well whatever that was. Now, I think I'll take a quick nap. Wake me up when get there, okay?" The transport shook and everyone fell to the floor. "No rest for the wicked, eh..."

Elfriede stood up and put on her brass knuckles. "We're under attack... But what are the Houraians doing out here?"

"Waiting for us." Connar slashed at the transport door. The blade ran along the door, leaving a trail of will'o. Connar stepped back and held out his hand and a barrier of white thorns formed. The will'o residue detonated but to force was pushed back by Connar's shield and towards the door, blowing it open.

Connar dashed out of the transport to find several sinners in riot armor wielding short swords. All of them rushed at Connar then stopped when Alice abductor stood on top of the transport and roared.

While the enemy was distracted the other ran out of the transport and opened fire on the sinners.

"Well, that was easy!" Alice waved to her robotic tiger to come closer. The machine leaped down and rubbed it head on Alice.

"That can't be it." Elfriede was concerned about their situation.

"Incoming transmission." Said Leon.

Carlos sighed. "Can't you tell them we're taking a nap?"

"No. The message is that the mission has been cancelled."

"What?"

"Come again?"

"You're kidding!"

Aside from Carlos the group was surprised by the news.

"The subject of relief was eliminated. Nog was destroyed."

"Oh my..." Alice gasped as she covered her mouth with her hands.

Carlos threw up his hands in frustration. "Gah, close but no cigar! Story of my life..."

"How did this happen? They started the attack less than an hour ago. No one could've..." Connar's thought trailed off. He traded a glance with Alice and the two took off in a dead run with Alice abductor right behind.

"Hey!" Shouted Elfriede. "Where you going?!"

"It's Abel he's nearby." Leon reloaded his gun and chased after the fallen.

Elfriede and Carlos looked at each other and chased after their teammates as well.

...

Alice and Connar ran through the ruins searching for Abel. Two small hovering turret drones stopped in their way. "Move aside!" Connar swung his sword to launch a sword beam and destroy the drones.

As they continued sinners stood on the rooftops shooting at them. Alice used her fire soul to kill the sinners that fired and spared the one that were too afraid.

They got to a highway when a carrier biped with missile launchers stood against them. Connar stopped running to shot another sword beam and sever off on of its weapons. "Go!"

Alice jump on top of her abductor and kept going. "Don't get careless!"

"Same to you!" Connar launched another beam at the abductor's legs to bring it down. It fired its missiles and Connar created a thorn wall to stop them. Connar heard the rest of his team catching up, he cut his thorn wall in half and rolled to his right. "Elfy! Gun it down!"

"Got it!" Elfriede's minigun barrel rotated to warm up then unleashed swarm of bullets at the machine's will'o pod. When Elfriede ran out of ammo Connar coated his katana with will'o and slashed the abductor in half. "Where's Alice?"

"Up ahead!"

...

Alice's abductor climbed to the rooftops to get a better view. When she couldn't find Abel she commanded her machine to jump to the next building for another look. After searching for a few blocks Alice finally found him. Abel and Red Rage were being escorted by a dozen sinners and a pair of multipurpose bipeds armed with the same weapons as Red Rage.

"Got you." Alice used her soul fire to quickly kill the sinners then her abductor leaped down and landed on one of the abductor. The tiger sank its teeth into the abductor's neck and ripped off the head while its claw tore away an arm.

Abel heard screaming and looked over his shoulder to see the sinners covered in a blue aura and dying along with Alice's Abductor taring apart one of his escort abductors.

Alice charged her spear with a large amount of will'o and threw it into the second abductor's will'o pod. Alice's will'o flowed through the machine and blasted it to bit.

Red Rage turned to face their new foe and Abel leaped down from his abductor, splashing rain water as she landed. "Oh? So you're the one I've been hearing talk about. The will'o witch."

Alice used her thorn to retrieve her spear then spun it as she got into a fighting stance as her body glowed with a blue aura. "So what?"

Abel raised his hand to his fore head and Red Rage's miniguns began to turn. The machine was hit this a beam of will'o and crashed into the ground.

Abel looked where the beam came from and saw Connar stand with his friends and holding a katana coated in will'o. "Oh! I've been waiting to go another round with you!" Abel pointed his sword at Connar.

"As much as I'd like to be the one to beat you to death with your own spine, it's only fair that someone else gets a turn." Connar launched another sword beam at Red Rage to keep it down.

Abel smirked and commanded his machine to go after Connar then held his sword out to Alice. "Did you have time to refine your new abilities?"

Alice dashed towards Abel with her spear out to impale him. Abel sidestepped but Alice swung her spear at him just as it past Abel, who held out his sword to block. "Why not see for yourself!"

Connar point down a street then ran with the other three right behind as they tried to put distance between Abel and Red Rage.

"We can't hurt it, so wants the pain?" Asked Carlos.

"We just need to keep it busy while Alice fights off Abel."

"You think she can do it?"

Connar threw another sword beam at Red Rage. "We'll see. Everyone split into pairs and pincer attack. Elfriede you're with me on the right. Leon and Carlos you take the left!"

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	76. To prove

Chapter. 76

Alice and Abel clashed their weapons as the rain grew heaver. Alice coated her spear with will'o, hoping to break Abel's sword but his weapon was also covered in will'o. Abel blocked and watched the will'o build between their weapons.

The two pulled their weapon to leave a sphere of will'o form from where their weapons were and fall to the ground. When it made contact with the pavement the will'o exploded.

Abel leaped back to escape the blast while Alice held her ground and a will'o shield protected her. As the smoke cleared Abel looked at the small crater they made and laughed. "How intersecting. I can see why they call you a witch!"

Alice's robotic tiger growled as it creeped closer. Alice held out her hand to her machine. "No! This is my fight alone!"

"Shove it!" Alice jumped over the crater and lunged with her spear with one hand.

Abel sidestepped the spear then grinned at Alice, Alice used her free hand to punch Abel in the jaw. Alice fell to the ground than rolled to her feet. She followed with swinging her spear which Abel leaned back as the spear flew over him.

Abel jabbed with his katana and cut along Alice's left side. Alice drew her gun to knock away Abel's sword and stepped back to get a better shot with her assault rifle.

Alice emptied her clip into Abel and watched him fall on his back. "Good enough for you?"

Abel reached into his pocket and used a med-kit on his wounds. Alice dropped her spear to reload but Alice jumped to his feet and swung his sword upward to send Alice gun into the air. "Not bad!" Abel reversed his grip on his sword and swung for Alice's head.

Alice ducked the attack and used her thorn to grapple Abel's leg and trip him. Alice picked up her spear and lunged it for Abel's heart.

Abel batted away the spear and kicked Alice in the stomach with both feet. Now that Alice was on the gr5ound Abel back rolled to his feet and raised his sword to slice Alice in half.

Alice held up her spear to block and launched her thorn in Abel's face. He backed away to let Alice get back to her feet.

The fighters each held out their weapons, challenging the other to make the first move. Abel noticed Alice's hair was covering her eyes and chuckled. "You plan to fight me blind?"

Alice's hair floated upward as she used her soul fire. A blue aura formed over Abel and Alice could see the pain in Abel's expression.

Abel started laughing and charged at Alice. Alice held up her spear to deflect each attack. "Why aren't you dying!?"

Abel clashed his sword against Alice's spear and started pushing her back. "This pain means nothing to me!"

Alice stopped her soul fire to focus on the fight and pushed back against Abel. "You truly are a monster... You're a demon!"

Abel grinned and head-butted Alice to stun her, following with a spun to get behind her then slash Alice across her back.

Alice fell to her hands and knees, screaming from the pain. Abel spun his katana and raised it the strike when he noticed Alice wound was glowing then quickly healed. Abel swung his weapon down and Alice rolled out of the way and to her feet.

A will'o aura blanketed Alice as she jabbed her spear at Abel. Abel was being pushed back as he blocked and dodged the assault. "You call me a demon? Then what are you witch?"

"Shut up!" Alice drew her flare knife and threw it at Abel. The knife pieced into Abel's right arm, just above the elbow. Alice stopped and pulled her spear back. Abel stepped back with his left leg and raised his sword over his head.

Alice lunged her spear as Abel brought down his katana. The weapon graced each other to form sparks. Abel moved his head to the right to evade Alice's spear but his blade slice along Alice's right arm, cutting the side of it from her wrist to her elbow.

Alice screamed and jumped back. Her wound glowed with will'o as Abel pulled out the flare knife in his arm.

"You have spirit, I'll give you that. Enough that I'd like to know your name."

"Got to hell..."

Abel laughed loudly. "That's not nice! I meet so few I would take the time to remember their faces, let along their names. But you and Connar, you're different."

Alice glanced at her arm, seeing that it was healed yet she need to play for time. "Alice Rose. A code 7 sinner."

"Pretty name." Abel grinned.

"Not interested."

Abel's grin widened. "Thought you looked the bad boys. Like what's his name."

Alice's body flared with will'o and charged at Abel with her spear out. Abel raised his sword for the same attack. Alice followed the attack and caught Abel's blade in the split in the middle of her spear.

"What?!"

"Die!" Alice caught Abel off guard and pushed her spear towards Abel, by the time he recovered Alice's spear already punctured Abel's chest.

Abel pushed back and slowly pulled the spear out of him. As Abel pushed against Alice his blade drew closer to her forehead.

Alice used more of her will'o, trying to out muscle Abel. The more Alice used her will'o a headache was forming and was distracting her.

...

Connar and Elfriede launched their thorns at Red Rage's back and pulled the robot down. "How must punishment can this thing take?" Elfriede felt her arms starting to give out.

"I know bullets and blades don't work but repeatedly hitting the concert has to do something, right?"

Leon was putting in the last clip he had into his rifle then stopped. "Something wrong tin man?" Asked Carlos.

"It's Alice! She needs our help!"

"Go! We'll keep Red Rage here!" Shouted Elfriede.

"Thank you!" Leon and Carlos ran to find Alice.

Red Rage launched missiles at the pair, Connar punched the ground to create a thorn wall. "You sure you can keep fighting?"

"I have too. What about you?"

Red Rage rose up and Connar threw a sword beam to knock it down. "A little winded but I can keep up."

...

Abel saw Carlos and Leon coming towards them. Abel swung his blade to the side the move Alice's spear away and punched her. Once Alice was out of the away he used his thorn to pull Carlos closer. Abel grabbed Carlos by the arm and twisted it behind Carlos' back while holding a katana to his neck pressing it hard enough to draw blood.

Alice regained focus and saw had happened. She tried using more of her will'o but only hurt her body. "Let go of him right now!" Alice pointed her spear at Abel.

"Sorry but I've got somewhere to be." Everyone heard stomping and saw Red Rage coming for them. Alice and Leon dove out of the way and Abel threw Carlos aside, he grappled to Red Rage as it didn't stop and carried Abel way.

"What happened?" Connar and Elfriede rejoined the group as they chased after Red Rage.

Connar saw Red Rage getting away and charge will'o into his weapon. "Connar!" The thief turn to see Alice on the ground shivering. "Alice is turning pale and Carlos is bleeding. We have to get back to the con now!"

Connar turned back to Abel, watching him get away again. _"They can take her back. He's weakened, I should chase him down and end this. I'm stronger now I know I can win this time."_ Connar look down at his hand. "But... Why can I move?"

"Connar!" Shouted Leon.

"Next time..." The thief sheathed his sword and picked up Alice.

Elfriede noticed Alice's abductor whimpering as it walked along side Connar. "Why didn't she use her abductor?"

"Because it was a fight between them. Honor was on the line. I fought Abel to a standstill without an abductor, looks like she did too."

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	77. Love and hate

Chapter. 77

As the sinners returned to the panopticon Connar carried Alice back to her cell.

...

Connar arrived at the fueling station to find Uwe and Elfirede waiting of him by the sofas. "Good to see you Connar." Uwe gestured to sit on the couch across the table.

"You need to see me?"

"Yeah, it's about when your unit was ambushed on the way to Nog. Did anything seem out of place when you were en route?"

"Like what?"

"You didn't feel like you were being watched? Or that your transporter might have had a tail?"

"None that I can think of. Why?"

"No reason. I just wanted to make sure."

Connar grew concerned. "You think something's amiss?"

Uwe gives a nod. "Seems mostly likely to me that Intel on your movements leaked before your unit shipped out."

"What are you saying?" Asked Elfriede.

"The route your transport took was highly classified. It was chosen because the chance of your unit being intercepted by Hourai was so low. But you were ambushed anyhow, and the upshot was that we lost Nog."

"Are you trying to say we have a mole?"

"It's possibility, but it ain't the only one. Right now, I'm still considering all the options." Uwe glares towards Connar. "So don't let me see you doing anything to sow suspicion in the ranks, you hear?"

...

"Though Alice did face off with Abel."

Uwe leaned back with his arms crossed. "And again fought to a standstill. You fallen are an odd pair."

Connar formed an orb of will'o in his hand. "Next time. He dies." Connar closed his hand into a fist to dispelling the will'o.

"Okay, that's enough for today. Go grab some rest. You earned it." Uwe stood up and left the fueling station.

Elfriede stood up to follow when Connar called out to her. "Hey Elfy, could you stay a minute?"

"Yeah?" Elfriede returned to her seat and Connar got up to sit next to her.

"I... I have something for you." Connar handed Elfriede a ball of paper. "I wanted to find better wrapping but I want you to have this now." Elfirede opened the paper and found Connar's hidden blades inside. "They were from my parents, for protecting. I want you to have them as to say thank you for sticking with me. I like being with you."

"Where's this coming from?"

Connar looked down at his hands. "I didn't want to be attached to anyone so I could just leave when my sentence was over, but I turned into a monster and killed for fun. I'm thankful you were there to see me through it."

Elfriede eyed Connar questionably. "You don't remember, do you?"

"What?"

"You were always good at escapes becuase you were good at running away. But one day you showed the monster inside." This time Connar was confused. "You remember our grand heist? We were gonna steal from one of the P and S supplies stashes as our last one before we were separated."

"Yeah."

"Do you remember the officer?" The thief thought back, trying to remember. "The officer caught us, I tried to fight back but he was twice my size."

"I don't remember any of this."

"You jumped on the officer and beat him to death with your fists."

"So I've always been a killer."

"Hey!" Elfirede laid her hand on Connar's knee. "Don't do this to yourself." She pulls out the silver locket. "We wouldn't have been firends if there wasn't any good in you."

"Thank you Elfy."

"Still. Thank you for the gift."

"They'll make a good addition to your fists." Elfriede lifted up the blades, Connar took one and stated ataching it to Elfriede's wrist. Once it was on Connar pointed her arm away from them then moved her hand back and blade extended.

Connar released her arm and Elfriede waved her hand, launched and retracted the blade. "Thank you Connar."

"Use them well Elfy."

Elfriede leaned close to connar and kissed his cheek. The thief looked surprised. "If you tell anyone."

"I like my face where it is." Elfriede smiled slightly then started attaching the second hidden blade. "Here let me." Connar held out her arm and attached the weapon. "We should work in some practice with it after excising."

"What am I to you Connar?"

Elfriede's accessory came inside the fueling station. "An operation has been assigned to you. Please sign up ASAP."

Elfriede sighed and stood up, walking out of the station.

Connar leaned back and stared at the ceiling. "So what is Elfriede to you?"

Connar sat up straight to find Uwe returned. "You're pretty stealthy for a big guy." Connar took out his gold coin and held it up to Uwe to see. "Elfy's very important to me, I can't promise that she won't get hurt but I will be right besides her trying."

Uwe nods with satisfaction. "Back when the two of you were kids you were inseparable. Fourteen years later it's like nothing changed."

"One thing changed, Elfy isn't fighting alone anymore."

"Look out for each other." Uwe stood up and looked down at Connar. "And remember. You break her heart, I'll break you."

Connar laughed a little. "Before or after Elfy?" Uwe grinned and left the fueling station. Connar examined the coin he held then closed his fist over it.

...

Connar laid in his cell watching the wave motions on his wall monitor when he heard several people stomping outside. The fallen sat up as his accessory stepped out of the way to his cell and Natalie entered.

"I have questions for you worm."

"File then with the 'I don't care" department."

Natalie scowled at Connar then looked at her tablet. "That little you pulled in the restricted sector down on level two. Was there anything you... Would like to discuss." Before Connar could answer Natalie held out her hand. "Let me remind you that you don't have the right to remain silent."

"I got that right a few days ago. Besides, I'm not telling you anything."

"How do you think your refusal to answer will be interpreted by my superiors?"

"That's their problem then."

Natlie pushed up her glasses. "Hm! So you want to do this the hard way, do you?"

On the wall monitor it showed that Connar's sentence was raised by one hundred years. "That all you got?"

"Suit yourself. But I know there's no way you could have got in there under your own feeble stream. Someone helped you. I'm guessing a citizen. Probably an engineer of some kind."

Connar's sentence was raised by another one hundred years. The thief only glared at Natalie.

"A skilled engineer could probably access the central systems... So that exactly where we're going to focus our inquires." Natalie stepped up to Connar, standing an inch away from his face. "Last chance worm. Do you or do you not know anything pertinent to this investigation?"

Connar returned Natalie's glare. Seeing the will'o swirling in Connar's eyes made Natalie feel uneasy. The officer stepped back and typed into her tablet. The wall monitor showed Connar's sentence increased again by eight hundred years.

"Why are you being so difficult? I know your type, you don't care about anyone but yourself, willing to throw anyone down just to get ahead. So why are you defending someone that could be a traitor? Unless you have something to hide."

Connar took a step forward to which Natalie instinctively stepped back. "You think you can come in here and start acting like you're the damn queen of the castle?"

"Don't you-"

"I'm hiding anything. I have no reason to defend and anyone, and I have no reason to help you."

"I'll-"

"You think your threats of extra years will scare me?" Connar held out his hands at his side as will'o glowed from his palms, seeping into the air. "I wield forces far scarier than your hollow threats."

Natalie pressed her back against the cell door, her accessories launched binding rings at Connar but were absorbed by his will'o.

The will'o faded and Connar stepped back. "So don't thing you can order me around lap dog." The thief extended his wrist blades. "Now get out before I stab a bitch."

The cell door opened and Natalie ran out with her accessories right behind. The officer grabbed the railing to steady herself. _"That little bastard! You think you can run over me like that?!" _Natalie typed on her tablet harder than normal. _"Let's see if you're still so smug after your death sentence!"_

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	78. Selling out

Chapter. 78

Alice tossed and turned in her sleep. In her sleep she dreamed of being in the geo front there she saw Natalia carefully walking around with her sniper rifle.

Alice took a step forward when someone in a dark coat with a hood up came down from the pipes above. The person removed the hood, revealing themselves to be Connar. Alice then realized that this was Connar's code seven exam.

Natalia turns to see Connar standing before her with the head of the officer's accessory being slowly crushed in his hand. Connar swung his katana low as will'o rose from his body as if it was fire. "I've been waiting for this day... For too long!"

Natalia pointed her gun at Connar but the thief was quicker. Connar dragged the tip of his katana along the ground to launch a sphere of will'o at Natalia. The will'o detonated once it reached her feet and threw her back.

Natalia's body was slightly burned from the will'o. Natalia lost her rifle and drew her short sword but her hands were too burned.

Connar moved at lighting speed to Natalia and sliced her arm off. Natalia screamed in agony and Connar kicked in the ribs. The impact left will'o on Natalia's side which blasted away her skin and ribs, exposing her organs.

"Come on lap dog! Threaten me! Bind me! Fight me!" Connar stabbed Natalia in her left leg then cut it off. "You can't. So whimper." The thief drew his assault rifle and fired a bullet into Natalia's other arm, almost breaking it in half. "Whimper like the dog you are!"

"No!" Alice coated her spear in will'o and threw it at Connar. The spear started to disintegrate and the will'o was absorbed by Connar. "No..."

Connar thrusted his sword into Natalia's heart and pointed him gun at Alice and fired.

...

"NO!" Alice sat up as she awake.

"Alice!" Leon stood over Alice with his hand on her back. "You're sweating greatly."

"I had a bad dream."

"What was it?" Leon sat on the bed and gently rubbed her back.

"I dreamed of Connar killing Natay. Not just killing her but torturing her as well."

"Would seeing Natay help ease your mind?"

"Yes I have to see-" Alice's door opened and Natalia walked in. "Natay!" Alice threw herself at the officer for a hug.

Natalia didn't return the hug and shoved Alice back. "Not right now Alice." Natalia's voice wasn't in any mood for games.

"Natay?"

"I have questions for you Alice. When you went in the restricted sector on level 2. Is there anything you want to tell me about it?" Natalia stepped closer to Alice. "Don't make this hard Alice, tell me everything that happened."

"Natay I... It's..."

"Give me something or I'll be forced to extend your sentence."

"I... We, ah... Is this going to the higher ups?"

Natalia's expression softened. "Yes." Natalia snapped her fingers, making her accessories shut down. "I can change somethings, but you have to give me something. Anything."

"We found Beatrice in there."

"Beatrice?" Natalia checked her tablet.

"We know this citizen, Julien, he helped us get Beatrice registered as a sinner."

"Julien? Interesting."

"What?"

"We're looking for a traitor. Someone who leaked to information about your operation. We believe it was an engineer."

"It wasn't Julien! Please don't do anything to him, he's been helping us..." Alice stopped but knew she'd gone too far.

"Helping you do what?" Natalia tapped her foot on the floor. "You better tell me what you've been doing Alice." The officer placed hand on Alice's shoulder. "I'll pin it all on Connar."

"That..." Alice thought about her dream. _"Adding more years might be enough to keep him away from Natay."_

"Well?" Natalia hand her fingers on Connar's profile.

"We've been breaking into the cell garden to learn more about why Beatrice was being held prisoner. A secret group rumored to be running the panopticons called 'Them' and why Abel wants the Casket."

As Alice explained what she and her friends were doing Natalia as making notes and adding more years to Connar's sentence. Alice felt bad that she was pinning all of her misdeeds on her friend but she wanted to keep him away from the code exam.

Natalia typed everything Alice said with minor changes. "Okay that will do. Thank you Alice."

"Please don't punish my friends. They're good people."

"Even if one of them could be a traitor?" Natalia thought for a moment. "Then again, if you can see something good in Carlos I'll trust you put my focus elsewhere."

"Thank you." Alice exhaled in relief. She knew it wasn't going to be one of friends that were sinners, and that Julien was safe. "Hey. How many years did you give to Connar?" Alice felt bad for asking but needed to know for when it would inevitably come back to her.

"Over ten thousand years. Here, what?" Natalia looked at her tablet to see all the years she added were gone.

"What? Did the sentence extenuation not go through?"

"No, I saw them go through but there gone. In fate, his sentences is still going down."

"What?!" Alice looked to Connar's year counter was rapidly dropping. "No, no, no!"

"Alice?"

_"What is this? What's happening? At this rate Connar will be ready to take the exam!"_

"Alice!" Natalia shouted. "Is there something you're not telling me? I know you think of Connar as something of a friend but you were ready to make him suffer for your own misdeeds."

"I..."

Leon interjected into the conversation. "Alice had a dream of Connar killing you in the code seven exam. She want to keep him away from it so you won't die."

"It's fine, whatever this Connar won't be a problem."

Alice looked confused. "What do you mean?"

Natalia grinned as pushed up her glasses. "An hour ago I went to speak to him. Bastard think he can push me around now that he's a fallen. So I sent him on an operation that would make sure he didn't come back."

"What was it?"

A tune played in Alice's cell as Percy appeared on her wall monitor. "Attention everyone! The Grug Panopticon has fallen!" The bear clapped its hands. "Way to go everyone! That puts us a step closer to defeating Hourai!"

Alice turned to Natay. "What's he talking about?" Natalia froze, dropping her tablet. "Natay!"

"I sent..." Natalia picked up her tablet and quickly typed on it. With shaking hands she finished typing to put a video on Alice's monitor.

"Oh god." Leon was shocked by the image and Alice gasped.

In the midst of a heavy rain storm the panopticon was nothing more than burning rubble. Standing at the base of the destruction was one person with glowing blue eyes in a dark coat with its hood up, and a blue aura that rose from their body like fire.

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	79. Power realized

Chapter. 79

Connar could hear the rain outside the transport getting louder as it was starting to come down harder then it did the day before. Connar pulled on the long dark coat he put on for the rain. The transport stopped and Connar stood up, pulling the coat's hood over his head and walked out into the rain.

Stepping out of the transport Connar saw the panopticon he was meant to attack. "This will be fun." The thief said dryly as he drew his gun.

As Connar towards the panopticon a small group of sinner was coming towards him. Each of them were armed with melee weapons but Connar amplified his rifle with will'o and cut them down with explosive rounds.

With the enemy down more sinners came running out from their pantopicon. All of them armed with more melee weapons. Connar signed and shot them down. "Really?"

With the sinners down the panopticon released two artillery abductors armed with missile launchers. They fired a stream of missiles at Connar who created a thorn wall to stop them.

The wall didn't stop all of the missiles, Connar's barrier was destroyed and the thief was blasted back from the last missile.

Shrapnel was imbedded into Connar's body, his breathing was getting harder and blood pooled around him. Sinner's appeared from behind the rubble around him. All of them opened fire on Connar, tearing him apart with bullets.

...

Connar awoke in his with the world in a purple tint he tried to sit up but his body refused. "What the hell were you thinking kid?" Sitting at the foot of Connar's bed was a man in a black suit with long dark hair and will'o glowing eyes. "You really thought you could just go in guns blazing?"

"Who are you?" The man helped Connar to set up and get a better look at him. "Devarja?"

"There you go!" The man pats Connar on the leg, the thief grunts in pain. "Sorry."

"What do you want?"

"I want to help you."

"Why?"

"Is it bad to just want to help?"

"Nothing in this world is free."

Devarja folds his arms. "Fair enough. You seek power, lots of it. I can get you more but you have to stop rejecting it."

"What?"

"Listen. After you're fight with you're other self you opened yourself to the will'o within you."

"Is that why you broke into a baby's room and did, whatever you did?"

Devarja let out a sigh. "I was dying Connar. I wanted to take humanity to its next step in development. You've seen the world, right? Nothing will change the way it is now." Devarja holds out his hand and an orb of will'o formed. "Will'o can give its user the power to do anything, but you have to let it flow through you."

"That's what I do, isn't it?"

"No. You see it as something that needs to be controlled. will'o is creativity, creativity can't grow if its on a leash."

"Is that your excuse for making the fallen?"

"The fallen." Devarja said the name with disgust. "Lucius gave them that name after seeing some of my early work. I told him it wasn't finished."

"And the people you turned into monsters?"

"They're not monsters Connar. I treated them with the most amount of care, warned them about using too much. But you, you know know how to use will'o to its fullest! You just have to let go and let it guide you." Devarja held out his hand to Connar. "Let me help you."

"The last time I trusted another person in me, I almost killed someone very close to me. How can I trust you?"

"Because right now you're lying in a pool of your own blood with more metal bits in you then meat, if you not agree then you'll die here. Besides, I want to take down On High as well."

Connar looked down at his body to see how badly he was hurt. With a simple nod Connar took Devarja's hand. "We're going to need to have a talk after this."

"We will."

...

Will'o flowed around Connar's body, covering it in a blinding light. The will'o died down to a glow as Connar stood up with all of his wounds healed in a bright aura of will'o.

"What is he?"

"He's a mnoster!"

"Fire!" the sinners fired their weapons at Connar to put him down again. The bullets all evaporated as they made contact with Connar's body.

"My turn." Connar switched his rifle for his katana and swung it in a circle around himself. When the circle was complete a ring of will'o form around Connar and expanded to all the sinners around him, disintegrating them all. With the sinners gone Connar pointed his gun at one of the abductors and opened fire.

The first machine was quickly blown to pieces and the second launched it missiles. Connar aimed at the incoming missiles and shot them down then followed with a swung of his sword to launch a beam of will'o, cutting the abductor in half.

"This power... It feels so..." Connar tightened his grip on his weapons and grinned. More abductor charged after Connar, mult-purposed biped modes stood in front of the panoticon's main gate and charged up their wrist mounted lasers.

Connar dashed towards the abductors as they fired their lasers, dodging the beams with great speed. The fallen's grin transformed in a full smile of a madman. Connar closed in on one of the machines and slashed it's legs off. The other abductors fired their laser cannons and destroyed the legless abductor as Connar hid behind it.

Connar stood in front of the gate and waited for the abductors to fire. The thief used his thorn to grapple above the gate and watched the machine break down the gate. "Thanks tin cans!" Connar leaped from where he hung and swung his sword to shot beams at the abductor to destroy them.

Inside Connar was stopped by the sight of an entire cell block filled with sinners. The ones on ground level armed with great swords, spears, and blasters while the upper levels held sniper rifles.

One sinner stepped out of the crew, He had blond hair and wore a combat suit with red glasses, while holding a blaster. "You're not getting any further!" The sinner held his weapon out at Connar. "You think you can-"

Connar dashed towards the sinner and sliced him in half. Connar caught the top half of the sinner and slashed his neck to leave only the head. "What is this, your champion?!" Connar covered the head with will'o and hurled it to the sinners on the higher level.

One of the sinner grabbed the head which then exploded on impact. With the shock of the exposition Connar rushed into the sinner crew and sliced his through.

A sinner with a blaster pointed their gun at Connar, the thief cut of the sinner's hand and head in one swing. With the blaster in the air Connar grabbed the gun and fired it point blank to another sinner's head, blowing it off.

A sinner with a great sword swung at Connar's midriff. Connar blocked the sword and stabbed the sinner in the eye with his hidden blade.

With sinners all around him Connar's body glowed with will'o and discharged it in a shockwave to reduce everyone around to dust.

Connar reversed the grip on his sword and charged it with will'o. The sinners on the higher levels that survived recovered from the explosion Connar threw up to them. All of the snipers aimed their guns at the fallen who held out his arms.

"Yes! HAHAHAHAHA! See if you can kill me!" The snipers fired on Connar but each bullet stopped as they were caught in his will'o aura then fell to the floor. Connar gave his katana a wide swing to create a large wave of will'o thrown at the sinner's.

The will'o cut the sinners in half and detonated when it reached the cell doors behind them.

More sinners arrived in the cell block and stopped in horror once they saw the rain of blood and gore. Connar pointed his katana towards them. "Who's next to waste my attention?!"

A sinner held a short sword and rushed to attack. Connar swung his katana up to knocked the sword out of their hands. "Very foolish to get within my reach!" Connar brought his sword down to slice the sinner in half.

The sinners ran back into the door they came from, Connar could hear locks moving as if to keep him out. The fallen drew his gun and fired at the door, letting his will'o charged bullets tare it apart. "You can't run now! I'm having too much fun!"

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	80. Just a glimpse

Chapter. 80

Connar slashed his way through the panopticon little resistance. The fallen fought his way into the panopticon's cell garden area where the sinners were making a last stand.

Connar stepped over a dead sinner and reached into their will'o case to receive a flamethrower. Sinners grappled and drew assault rifles to the roof to get the drop on him. Connar held up the flamethrower with one hand, empowering the weapon with will'o the flamethrower sprayed blue fire on the hanging sinners.

The sinners were engulfed by the will'o fire and fell to the ground as melted slag.

The sinners were retreating further into the cell garden. They locked the door behind them to buy time to set up traps but Connar gave them little rest as the locked door proved to be almost ineffective against his will'o flamethrower.

As the sinner retreated Connar felt something pulling at him. He turned to his right to see a strongly fortified metal door. Connar shook his head as he charged will'o in his flamethrower once more. The blue fire quickly melted away the metal door and the frame around to a pool of lava. Connar focused his will'o to his feet and walked through it without a care.

Connar stepped into a large room with giant generators producing will'o for the panopticon. The thief stood in front of one of the generators and placed his hand on it. Will'o seeped through the glass and into his hand. _"I can smell it, hear it, and almost taste it now. Will'o. This much in one place, like it's calling to me."_ Connar took a deep breath, inhaling the scent of will'o. The smell was mildly sweet with a bit of tanginess. "It's enough to make a man sick."

The fallen one punched through the glass, with his hand in the will'o he began to absorb it. "This can habit forming!" Connar felt his powers grow tremendously, his aura grew brighter. Will'o dripped from his body, causing minor explosions. Connar walked towards the main will'o generator, each step left a footprint of will'o that also detonated in his wake.

Standing in front of the generator Connar waved his hand on it to leave his will'o on the machine. Enemy sinner ran into the main chamber and opened fire.

"Idiots." Connar rolled out of the way and watched the bullets hit the will'o he left behind. The generator burst with a large explosion. The will'o spread to the other generators, destroying them as well. The sinners ran to escape while Connar stayed to absorb the vast amounts of will'o.

The destruction of the will'o generators caused a chain reaction, destroying everything in the panoticon. The sinners and citizens ran for their lives as many were crushed under falling derby, blown apart by an explosion, or was reduced to nothing from the will'o flowing wildly.

Every that survived made it outside to watch their panopticon crumble and burn. The rain did little to dampen the flames. P and S officer worked to see if anyone was wounded as people were grieving over what they've lost.

"Look!" One of the officers pointed to the burning panopticon to see something coming out of the rubble.

The collapsed gate burst open as Connar walked out. Will'o still dripping from his body but at a faster rate and larger amounts, a large blue ring of pure will'o hovered behind him.

A young sinner drew a great sword, dragging it along the dirt as they ran to attack. When the sinner was closer they tried to swing the weapon but Connar was faster. The fallen impaled the sinner with his katana and leaned in close. "Striking me is pleaded for death."

Connar pulled his sword out and watched the sinner fall. The thief stepped on the sinner to move over them, leaving a will'o imprint that blown the sinner in half.

Thunder clapped in the sky as Connar continued his walk towards the survivors. The officers began shouting orders for the citizens to run while the sinners held Connar back.

The will'o ring behind Connar slowly turned then built up speed. It was spinning fast enough that the ring looked like it was going the other way. Connar moved in an intent to cut off the citizens' retreat. In his haste Connar left behind a trail of will'o, killing several sinners and officers in its blast.

"You can't leave! You'll miss the fun!" Connar waved his hand out at the citizens, will'o flew off his arm and exploded on anything and anyone it splashed on.

The citizen ran away from Connar as the sinners were run towards him. "I can small the fear in your hearts." Connar let out a big smile as he sliced through the waves of sinners. They stopped to switch to their guns. "Why do you think I can be killed?" Connar stopped as his aura grew brighter and stopped every bullet that came into contact with him.

The ring behind Connar began to turn again. Connar ran with unimaginable speed, slashing at every sinner, officer, accessory, and anyone holding a weapon. When Connar stopped all everyone he slashed fell apart in a pile of gore.

The ring behind Connar faded along with his aura. The thief dropped his katana and fell on his hand and knees. "What's...?" Connar felt his body shackling and threw up. _"What's happening?" _Connar whipped his mouth with his sleeve._ "Guess it did make me sick."_

Connar could see the citizens grabbing any weapons near them. Connar stood on shacking legs and drew his assault rifle. The thief fired at one of the citizens but the recoil threw him back. Connar create a thorn wall as the citizens opened fire on him.

_"I need to get out of this. I can't die here, not after that!"_ Connar reached into his coat and took out a will'o pack to recharge and swallowed a pain killer. After absorbing the will'o Connar felt his body stop shacking, the fallen stood up and fired on everyone around him. After three citizens were killed the rest of them dropped their weapons and held their hands up.

"All of you. You're coming with me."

"We'd rather die!" One of the citizens shouted, the other looked at their in shock and fear.

Connar gave them a grin, them and a menacing smile. "So be it." Connar charged his weapon with will'o and gunned down the remaining citizens.

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	81. Of two minds

Chapter. 81

Alice paced back and forth in her cell as she waited for the message of Connar's return.

"Alice you should rest, you can't do anything the way you are now."

"I know but, I can't sit still."

"What do plan to do?" Leon received a massage that they were waiting for. "He's here." Leon stepped aside to let Alice out.

Walking out into the cell block Alice could still hear whispers of people still calling her a witch. Alice smiled as she heard them, remembering what Connar told her to do. "So what?" The group of people turned to Alice. "Well? So what?"

The whispers died down as everyone in the cell block began to leave. Alice went to the lift and rode it to the transport bay. Once there Alice spotted Connar taking off his coat and using it to remove the blood from his katana. Alice froze when she saw the color of the coat, it was the same from her dream.

Leon grabbed her shoulder. "Be careful, very careful. Connar's will'o... It's risen."

"What do you mean?"

"I can hear you!" Connar shouted to them. "It's not nice to be whispering about someone behind their back you of all people should know this Alice." Connar dropped the coat and walked towards Alice and Leon.

Alice and Leon stepped back as they were overcome an unknown fear. "So you two need to speak with me?"

Alice couldn't figure out why she felt this way. Connar was always something to be afraid of but right now that fear was almost paralyzing.

"So. Out with it."

"Your, your years are almost low enough that you'll be taking the code seven exam."

"Yeah so?"

"I... Please don't kill Natay! I know you two have you're differences, but she's mean because she really, really cares about our panopticon!"

Connar crossed his arm. "And why would I spare her? She's the reason I'm in this hell."

"I-"

"What can you offer me to let that lap dog live?"

"I'll let you kill me."

"Alice?!" Leon grabbed Alice by her arms and turned her to face him. "What are you saying!?"

"The panopticon needs her more then another sinner. I'd trade my life if it means one of my friends can live."

Connar snickered. "Now why would I do that? I could kill you and then kill Natalia."

"You wouldn't-"

"Then Carlos, then Uwe, then Julien, then Mattias, then everyone in this damn place is I so choose too." Alice felt something within Connar, like another presence was with them. Connar slapped Alice across the face, sending her to the ground. "You insult me."

Leon reached for his gun but froze when Connar glanced at him. "You think you can defend something by surrendering. You can't protect anything to by throwing down your weapon. If you want to defend something you pick up your weapon and fight. And as someone who thinks of you as an equal, you're little act is insulting." Walked to the lift.

"Where you going?" Asked Leon.

"To go kill Natalia."

"No!" Alice stood up and drew her spear.

Connar stopped outside the lift doors. "You going to use that? If so follow me." Connar went into the lift with Alice and Leon.

Connar lead the two to an open area in the warren. "This should be good." Connar spun his sword and made a low swing. "Alright Alice, time to teach something. If you want to protect Natalia then fight me."

"Leon."

"Yes?"

"Stay out of this." Alice activated her will'o and stood ready to fight.

Connar got into a fighting stance as well. _"Time to test my new might."_

_"Beat her down. Show Alice who's in charge."_ Connar heard Devaja speaking to him.

"One hit. See what you can in one hit."

"Isn't that limiting?"

"Some battles are decided in one hit."

Alice gave a nod. She charged her spear with will'o as Connar did the same. Alice dashed towards Connar looking to kill him. Connar held his sword sideways to deflect the incoming attack.

Alice stopped her advance and swung her spear in a circle around her, gaining speed to cut off Connar's head.

Connar ducked under the spear and swung his sword upwards to knock the weapon out of her hands. Connar followed with a punch to Alice throat, the girl fell to her knees coughing. Connar pointed his sword at her. "What are you waiting for?"

Connar lowered his blade. "You're not just another sinner. You're a fallen, you have powers others would only dream of. Is your life, your power, really worth the life of just another officer?"

"Yes! Natay is important to me!"

"Why? Why is the lap dog important to you?"

"She was like a mother to me!" Connar tilted his head. "My parents were sinners. When they died Natay took me in and raised me."

"Why would lap dog do that?" Connar offered his hand to help Alice up.

Alice took Connar's hand to stand. "Natay wasn't always an officer. But when she was sinner my dad took trained her until he met my mother."

_"Ask if her name was Rosawyn."_

"Was your mother's name Rosawyn?"

Alice's reacted with confusing. "How did you know?"

_"So that's what happened to her. Tell her your will'o is giving you visions."_

"My will'o gives me weird visions. I heard that name in them and saw a woman that looked a bit like you."

"Are you saying your will'o is giving you some type of foresight?" Asked Leon.

_"Yes."_

"Yeah. Guess that's how my powers are developing."

_"We should go, we need to get ready for the upcoming fight with Abel."_

"I've got to go, need to get ready for my upcoming fight with Abel." Connar headed for the panopticon.

Alice and Leon watched the thief leave then looked to each other. "Is it just me, or was he acting off?"

"Perhaps he needs rest. Connar's body is in a state of shutting down if he doesn't soon."

"I hope you're right."

"I just received a messaged from Carlos, he wishes to speak with you."

Alice almost jumped at the massage. "There is here?"

...

Connar stood in front of his wall monitor as his hands moved almost on their own to design a weapon. When he was finished Connar stepped back to fully see his work.

_"Now we have something."_ The image show a silver katana with a gold handle. On the handle were three triggers, red, blue, and purple.

"Now we send it to the weapon devs and see then make it." Connar sent the request massage, just as his sit on his bed he got a return massage which opened a video feed.

"Are you mad? This is way beyond anything we could make."

_"You have the specs, everything is there to make it."_

"You have the specs, everything is there to make it."

The engineer looked over the data. "But this is gonna need some very special parts, stuff a code six can't have."

_"Then we'll go get them, damn the years."_

"Then we'll go get them, damn the years."

"Okay, I'll send you the list." The engineer cut the feed and Connar laid down to sleep.

The world turned lightly purple and Devaja stood in Connar's cell. _"Thought you could get rid of me that easy Lucius? Well guess who's gonna be knocking on you're door soon."_

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	82. Spy hunt

Chapter. 82

The following day Connar went to the fueling station after receiving a massage from Elfriede wanting to meet him. When he entered Connar was stopped by two sinners.

"Well look 'oo it is! An' swaggerin' some fink rotten, an all!"

"Well, it's only natural. This one's been on a right old winnin' streak lately, aint'cha?"

Connar sighed from frustration with the two sinner's grammar. One of the sinner wore a blue dress suit and hat with purple slacks. The other wore a white hat with matching pants and a dark brown sleeveless jacket over a yellow shirt.

"What do you want from me?"

The one in blue and purple smirked. "Oh, nuffink much."

"You mean 'nothing much." Comment Connar.

"Hey we just given yo a friendly warnin."

"Do you even know how to speak?"

The other one put up his fists. Yous mading fun us?!"

"Wow. Okay I'm going to be going now." The one in white put his arm out and Connar stabbed them both in the neck then threw then out of the fueling station.

Connar returned inside to find Elfriede in the back. "You called?"

"Sorry to drag you down here."

Connar leaned closer for a kiss on the cheek. "Anything for you Elfy. What's up?"

"Did you really need to do that?" Elfriede held her hands on her hips.

"Returning the favor."

"Anyway, I've been thinking about this whole spy thing. I think it's possible that the leak could have come from someone close to us." Elfriede passed a glace to Connar. "It wasn't you, was it?"

Connar placed his hand over his heart. "Elfy! I'm shocked you would think of me like that!"

Elfriede shook her head and grinned. "Okay I get it."

"I mean it Elfy, you accusation wounds me deeply."

"Okay you can stop now."

Connar took a knee to continue his act. "I don't know if I can ever recover from this."

"Are you done?"

Connar stood up. "I made you smile so it was worth it."

"I'm being serious here. I actually think it's really important that we don't start suspecting each other."

"I agree. I'm worried about Beatrice. I don't' think she could take to fear of always looking over her shoulder."

Elfriede looked questionable at Connar. "Is she really that important to you?"

"She's my cousin."

"Really? So you're from On High?"

"Yes. Though it was when I was less than five, so I don't have any memories of it."

"Then maybe you should go check on her. If both of your secret get out, she's going to draw suspicion from a lot of quarters."

"I'll keep her safe." Connar conjured will'o in his hand. "I have the power keep anyone from harming anyone important to me."

"Any way I could get some of that power you got?"

Connar dissipated the will'o and smiled. "When I find a way I'll get you first."

"Deal! Come on let's go find her." Elfriede and Connar left the fueling station, stepping into the warren the pair spotted Beatrice right away with Nina.

"Hey Beatrice!" Connar shouted as he ran towards them.

"Is everything okay?"

"We want to get your take on the spy thing."

Beatrice hung her head. "Even I am under suspicion, it seems..."

Nina patted Beatrice on the back. "Don't worry, Beatrice. If anyone tries anything, I'll take care of them."

"Thank you, Nina."

"Hey, what are your thoughts on Carlos?" Asked Elfriede. "With this spy business Carlos isn't doing himself any favors."

"He certainly does very little to allay people's suspicions of him, but I do not think he is a bad person at heart."

Nina shook her head to disagree. "Really? He wasn't exactly upset when his home con was destroyed. Not that that's a reason to suspect him I suppose."

Connar folded his arm. "Natalia said she thinks the spy could be an engineer."

"Hmm. It's a definite possibility. A citizen with the right kind of technical expertise could probably supply Hourai with all kinds of information."

"Does that mean we must be wary of Julien too?" Beatrice mumbled. "I must say, suspecting one's friends and colleagues in this manner makes me very uncomfortable. Perhaps if I spoke with Natalia, I might be able to convince her that there really is no spy."

"Beatrice, cousin. I love you but you're too naive. We were ambushed, our mission was top level secret or something. Point is Hourai would only know about it if someone told them. Lap dog is a lot of things but not dumb."

"But..."

"You two are related?" Asked Nina.

"Yes, and I'm not going into it again today." Connar gave a two fingered salute and headed back to the panopticon.

"Why are you in a hurry?" Elfriede walked beside him.

"I want to see how my new weapon is progressing." The two went into the lift and rode it to the sixth floor. "This spy thing is really eating at Beatrice."

"That's why we should deal with it fast. If her secret gets out she'll be in a lot of trouble."

"Hey Elfy."

"Yeah?"

"Do thing think we can change the world?"

"Where's this coming from?"

The lift reached the sixth floor and the doors opened. Connar and Elfriede walked out of the lift to be stopped by a citizen.

"Hello there."

"Do I know you?"

"I'm Julien's boss, Gene. He tells me you've been very helpful and supportive to us engineers. I'd just like to take this opportunity to say thanks."

"Can I do something for you?"

"Oh yes, it's Natalia. Do you know her?"

Connar's body didn't react but an aura appear for a moment then faded. "Yes I know the lap dog."

"Well, she's the one in charge of this spy investigation. You know, all of us engineers are completely devoted to our panopticon."

_"And that's your down fall."_

"None of us would ever dream of doing anything treacherous. But we just can't seem to convince her of that."

"So you want me to talk to her."

Gene waved his hands out. "No, no. I couldn't ask that! No 'talks' to Natalia."

"Then I'll have a quote talk." Connar heard a door open across the cell block and saw Natalia enter with her accessories. "Speak of the devil and she will appear." Connar started walking towards her.

"This can't end well." Elfriede followed.

"Hey lap dog!"

Natalia turned to see Connar. "There you are, good. I need to talk to you."

"Really now. Is it about your little spy hunt?"

"Not this time."

"You still think the spy is an engineer?"

"What nonsense! I can assure you that none of the suspects made my list solely on the basis of being engineers alone."

Connar crossed his arms and chuckled. "Could've fool me when you came into my cell, telling me that you'd start with looking at the engineers. As they were the likely to be it." Connar turned too looked to his left.

"Don't you ignore me!" Natalia stomped her leg forward.

Connar turned back to Natalia, will'o flowing from his left eye. Natalia stepped back as she began to tremble. "Now, one of the engineers came to me and wanted me to ask you to stop your little witch hunt. And I'm doing this because I'm a 'nice guy' and so they won't bring this up again and waste my time."

The will'o over Connar's eye faded and he wore an innocent smile. "So. what did you want to tell me?"

"I..." Natalia straightened up and pushed up her glasses. "I have an operation for you, it's to evacuate the survivors of Nog."

"Alright." Connar and Elfriede headed back to the lift.

"What was that?"

"Liked it?"

"No, it was creepy."

"That's what I was going for. The lap dog needs to know that I can't be controlled."

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	83. Slipping back in madness

Chapter. 83

Elfriede arrived in the transport bay to find Beatrice and Mattias waiting for her.

"Hey Elfriede!" Mattias waved as she got closer.

"Where's Connar?" Asked Beatrice.

"He said he needed to get changed." Elfriede looked around to see they were the only ones in the bay. "Does Connar seem different to any of you?"

Mattias threw up his hands. "What do you mean different? That guy is always changing personalities."

"What?"

"First he was all cocky and smug, then he was anger then Natalia, now he thinks he's the king of the con with his will'o thing."

"You talking about me?" everyone turned to see Connar. The thief had on a long dark coat that reached just below his knees. Under the coat he wore a bright red shirt and black jeans with red boots, his hands were covered by a pair of black gloves and his hair was combed down to cover his right eye.

"Wow. Connar you..."

"Like my look Beatrice? I felt like getting something with a bit of authority to it."

"It looks a little intimidating."

Connar gave a small smile. "That's what I was going for."

"Connar, you're hand." Elfriede pointed to Connar's left hand.

Connar held up his hand and covered it with his other. "I'll be fine Elfriede. Let's go, shall we?" Connar patted Elfriede's head and went into the transport.

Beatrice and Mattias followed after him, Elfriede watched them enter before she followed as well.

...

The transport stopped in the city outside the ruins of the Nog panoticpcon. The door opened and Beatrice ran out with her blaster aimed, Mattias followed after her with his great sword.

Connar stepped out and drew his katana. "Beatrice, you hit the rooms. Tell us if you see anything."

"Understood!" Beatrice used her thorn to scale the tallest building close to them.

"Mattias you take the ground, circle the block to find anyone setting an ambush."

"Hey why-" Connar's glare make Mattias shiver. "O-okay."

Connar placed his sword over his shoulder and turned to Elfriede, still standing in the transport. "Coming?"

The two walked around the city looking for citizens. Elfriede opened up first. "Why did you call me by my name?"

"What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean."

"Elfriede what are you getting at?" Elfriede stared at Connar, she noticed his hand was shaking again and dropped his katana. "We don't have time for this." Connar picked up his weapon.

"Do remember that abductor we were building as kids?"

"That's not important."

"What kind of abductor was it? If you're Connar then you'd know."

Connar's eyes darted around looking for anything to change the subject. "What are you going on about here Elfriede? We-"

Elfriede pointed her new hidden blade at Connar. "Each time you call me that you're digging you're own grave!"

Connar closed his eyes and smiled. As the two stood in the open a group of sinners carrying citizens came around the Conner and spotted the two. Elfriede took cover while Connar opened his eyes and looked at the sinners, will'o flowing from his left eye.

"Since when were you in control?" Connar punched the ground to create a thorn wall to stop incoming fire. Connar poured will'o into his wall and it launched thorns out at the sinners.

Connar leaped over the wall and charged after the sinners, swinging his katana to fire beams of will'o. The sinners were vaporized as the will'o attack touched them.

What remained were four citizens, who got one look are Connar and ran away. The fallen drew his gun and fired at one of the buildings. The exploded on impacted and caused parts of the building to fall, blocking their path.

The citizens turned back to Connar, who was pointing his gun at them. "No then, you have two options. Go to our transport or I'll end you all right here."

"You wouldn't!"

Connar shot one of the citizens in the arm. "A citizen for us is better than a live one our my enemies. Not what's it gonna be?"

"Connar we have a problem over here!" Beatrice shouted from atop the building.

Connar let out a sigh of frustration. "Am I the only one that can do anything? Elfriede, be a dear and get these citizens back to transport." Connar put away his rifle and used his thorn to climb the building and reach Beatrice.

"Connar look!" Beatrice pointed down to the street, Mattias was fighting off a biped abductor.

Will'o flared over Connar's sword and legs. He leaped off the rooftop, free falling towards the abductor. Connar's blade sliced into the abductor's head and continued to cut the machine in half.

The fallen landed on the ground and watched the robot fall apart. In the will'o pod blood poured out along with will'o, as it split in half the remains of a citizen.

"Connar!" Shouted Mattias. "There was a person in there!"

The thief swung his sword to get the blood off. "So?" Mattias panicked as Connar looked at him with his will'o glowing eye. "There's plenty of them." A will'o carrier hovered into the area, Connar launched his thorn at it and hurled it at Mattlia's feet.

The carrier cracked open and spilled will'o as a citizen fell out. "See? There's plenty of them." Connar twirled his sword as he went to look for more sinners to kill and citizens to save. "Now where do the surface dwellers like to hide?" He felt his hand twitching once again. "Stop it."

Connar found the enemy RRU with sinners taking more citizens to it. He switched his katana with his assault rifle and grappled to a building to gain a height advantage and fired on the RRU. The device was destroyed from the will'o explosions.

The sinners looked up to where the bullets where coming from and Connar came down, slicing through three of them. Connar rolled to his feet and watched the enemy drop their captured citizens and drew their weapons.

The first charged at Connar who sidestepped them and stabbed them in the back of the neck with his wrist blade. Connar noticed another coming towards him, he pulled his blade out the sinner he killed and slit the incoming sinner's throat with it.

"Come now, is that the best you can do?" Connar sheathed his katana. "There. That more fair for you all?" As the sinners creeped closer Connar felt his legs shacking. "Cut it out."

The sinners to it as a sign of weakness and attacked. Connar dodged a spear and sliced the sinner's neck. He blocked a short sword with his wrist blade then stabbed the sinner in the eye. "Is this all you got?" Connar grabbed the sword as it fell and hurled it at another sinner, pricing their heart.

With only three sinners left Connar drew his katana and stood ready to fight. "Now. Shall we begin?" The sinner fired their guns but Connar's body glowed with will'o to deflect every bullet.

The sinners dropped their guns and took out their close range weapons. The will'o over Connar's left eye glow bright enough that his pupil was no longer viable and smiled menacingly.

Two of the sinner swung great swords from both side, think he could only block one of them. Connar threw his katana into the air, his arms lit up with will'o and caught with his hands.

While the sinners were shocked by what just transpired Connar lightly tossed the two great swords up and grabbed them by their handles. Connar charged his will'o into the weapons and plunged them into the sinners.

The last sinner made a break for it but Connar used his thorn to grab their leg and slow drag them back. "Where are you going?" The thief caught his blade as it fell back to his hand.

The sinner turned on their back and threw a sticky grenade at Connar. The fallen retracted his thorn the catch the grenade and absorbed the will'o with in it. The sinner stood up and tried to run again.

Connar used his thorn to latch onto the sinner's back and quickly pulled them in, impaling them with is sword. "Thank you for the treat." Connar pulled his sword out of the sinner and let them fall into the dirt.

Connar turned his gaze to the citizens, smiling. "Now then." Connar placed his sword over his shoulder. "What will all of you do? Follow me to my con or die by my blade. Your choice."

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	84. Of terrible truths

Chapter. 84

The sinners rode the transport back to their panoticon. During the ride Elfriede kept pressuring Connar to tell her what was wrong with him. Connar just kept waving her off, telling her nothing was nothing.

Beatrice and Mattias only watched as they were confused by the sight.

"This isn't funny anymore Elfy."

"You're the one who thinks this is funny! What were you thinking? You killed a citizen!"

"Collateral damage." The transport stopped and opened and let the sinners back into their panopticon. Connar stood up and walked towards the lift.

"What about wanting to protect people?" Connar didn't stop walking. Elfriede took out her locket and threw it to the ground.

Connar stopped and turned, looking at the locket. "If that's the way you want it." Connar reach up to his shirt and his hand gripped the collar. "What?" Connar tried to let go of his collar but his hand won't obey. "Let go now." Connar used his other hand to peel his fingers off but his hand wouldn't budge.

The fallen closed his eyes and smirked. "Fine then." Connar quickly ran to the lift. He rode it to his cell block and ran to his cell. Once inside Connar threw himself against his monitor. "What are you doing? Knock it off!" Connar's hand still won't let go. "I own you now! I own this body! You have no say in what I do. Did you forget our deal?"

The world turned purple and Aries appeared, anger written on her face.

"Hello Aries." Connar wore a sickeningly sweet smile. "Now isn't a very-"

Aries forced her hand onto Connar's forehead. Will'o flowed out of her body and into Connar's. The thief fell to the ground, his hand let go of his shirt and he started coughing.

Aries kneeled down and placed her hand on Connar's back. "You okay?"

"What? I'm, what was... Devaja!" Connar stood up. "Where is he?!"

Aries stood up as well. "Still inside you. What did I tell you about trusting Devaja?"

"I needed him to survive. I thought I-"

Aries flicked her finger against Conar's head. "And that was your fault. Attacking a panopticon on your own, what were you thinking?'

"It was the operation..." Will'o flared over Connar's body. "Natalia. She did this to me!"

Aries slapped Connar across the face and his will'o faded. "You did this to yourself!" The woman rest her hands on her hips. "Starting to think I was wrong about you."

"I told you I wasn't a hero."

"It's time I-"

Connar grabbed Aries wrist. "You're not going anywhere. Not until you tell me everything."

The world began to fade to white then stopped, retaining the purple tint. "Listen to me Connar. You have to let go."

"Or what?" Aries tried to free her hand but Connar grabbed her other arm to stop her. "Tell me everything. Why did you choice me? Why did Devaja choice me? What is the casket? How am I suppose the save the world?"

"I can't!" Connar squeezed Aries' arms. "Stop!"

"Then start talking."

"I can't!"

"Answer me!" Cracks formed in the air and along the walls. "What do you all what from me?!"

Aries as starting to panic. "Please let go and calm down, I'll tell you, just stop!"

"Tell me!" The cracks were growing wider and light shine through them.

"You're gonna become a god!"

Connar let go of Aries and the cracks slowly closed. "You're will'o has grown this strong? Or was it because of Devaja?" Connar glared at Aries, waiting for his side of the bargain.

"What did you say?"

"Devaja is still inside you. Every time you use you're will'o he gains more control of you."

"Can we go back to the part where you said I'm to become a god?"

"That was Devaja's master plan. He was studying will'o to find that it could do, well, anything. But Lucias stopped him for killing his solders. He choice you because you were the first one he could use to save himself."

Connar looked down at his hands. "So I'm just an object of convenience."

"Maybe. But it's also why I choice you. Because of Devaja's in you, you have a large amount of will'o within you, and it's growing faster than I thought."

"What?"

"Simeon what's to destroying On High and needs a weapon. You're that weapon."

The cell was stating to shake. "Is that all I am to you? A pawn?" The cracks were opening again. "Is that what think of me?!"

Aries looked around to see more cracks forming everywhere. "Please Connar stop, calm down!"

"I'm sick of being thought of as a tool to be used! Something less then human!"

"Connar you need to stop, you're tearing down reality!"

The statement made Connar flinch. He looked around to see the cracks on the walls and in the air. "What is this?"

Aries exhaled and rubbed some sweat off her forehead. "You're will'o has grown this strong?" Aries places her hands on Connar's shoulders. "Listen to me Connar. You have to avoid using your will'o, Devaja is sealed within you and will come out one day. But the more you use you're will'o the faster he'll come out."

"I want him out. I'm not having another Dracula."

"Please Connar, you have to let me leave. Pulling you into the immaterial plane for too long puts a strain on it."

"What happens if it breaks?"

"The wall between life and death will break. If that happens then reality will fall apart." The cracks grew larger and light shined through some of them. "I have to go, now!"

"I'm not done yet!"

"If I stay any longer it's going to get worse. I'll tell you more later, I promise!"

Connar calmed down and the cracks stopped growing. "What do I do?" Aries leaned closer to Connar and kissed his forehead and the world faded to white. Connar awoke in his cell, leaning against his monitor.

The fallen pushed himself up but fell as soon as he got half way up to his feet. Connar felt his body was weak, he used his will'o to try and heal but stopped as he could feel Devaja's conscious creeping to the surface.

"Damn it!" Connar punched the floor, making loud thud. "My one advantage, gone!" Connar took out a med-kit from his jacket to heal himself.

With his restored strength Connar was able to stand up. "First things first though." Connar pushed his accessory aside and left the cell.

...

In the late afternoon Elfriede wondered down to the lower levels of the warren. She received a message from Connar to meet him.

"Connar!" She shouted as she searched the area. She heard machine parts moving and saw and small dragon abductor running towards her. The machine tackled Elfriede and rubbed its head on the face.

"Our childhood pet is complete." Connar came around a pillar and leaned on it. "I dug it up and got Beatrice to get it working." Connar pulled the dragon off of Elfriede.

"So are you gonna tell me what's been going on with you?"

Connar's weak smile faded. "You remember when I kissed you? It was when you saw my other side, Dracula."

"Is it coming back?"

"Worse. I'll have to fight it soon." Connar put down the dragon abductor, letting the machine curl up around his legs. "I'm sorry about what that thing said and did to you Elfy. I hate myself for being so weak, letting other people take control of me."

Elfriede rested her hands on her hips. "Admitting to a problem is the first step to recovering from it." Elfriede punched Connar in the stomach, causing him to fell to his knees. "Now quit giving up and fight. The Connar I knew was a scared boy who was good at running. I want to see the Connar I know now who fights for what he wants."

"Sounds like a deal." Connar grinned as he stood back up.

"There it is."

"Thanks Elfy."

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	85. Clearing doubts

Chapter. 85

Over the next week Connar and Elfriede repaired their relationship as they spent their time together on missions and training. The two were walking around in the warren, headed for the fueling station when Gene Caught sight of them and ran towards them.

"Hey Connar!" The citizen stood before the sinners. "How did it go with Natalia? Did she have anything to say about us?"

"Yeah she said that not all of her suspects are engineers."

"I see. That's good to hear. Hopefully that means she won't waste time investigating good citizens like Julien then. Thanks for doing that, I really appreciate it. I'll return the favor one of these days. See you around." Gene waved to the sinners as he walked away.

"Well that weird." Commented Elfriede.

"He's just happy that the lap dog isn't keeping her blood shot eye on him."

Elfriede held her sides as she laughed. "You're horrible!"

"And you expected any different of me?" Connar and

Elfriede went into the fueling station, as the two went to counter they found Carlos at the bar having drinks.

"Well what do we have here?" Connar spoke up to make his presents known to them. "We've got some things to I'd like to ask you."

Elfriede takes her usual pose. "Right then, Carlos. First things first, where have you been?"

Carlos grinned and shock his head. "Heh, you're not my mother. I don't have to tell you anything."

"You won't get out of this one by trying to be funny, Carlos. You're going to have to explain yourself. And we're going to have to be a satisfied with your explanation."

"But how would you know if what I told you was true? I mean, I could just lie to you. I'm quite good at that, after all."

Connar glanced to Elfriede who nodded. Connar punched Carlos in the nose then slammed his face into the counter. The thief threw Carlos to the ground and stabbed him in the chest with his wrist blade. "Now. Tell us the truth and they'll me a med-kit in it for you."

Connar waved the item over Carlos, Carlos reached for it but Connar grabbed his arm and threw it down, followed by stomping his boot on it. The station owner was about to speak when Connar glared at him with eyes filled with will'o, forcing him to retreat to the back.

"People tend to tell the truth when their live is on the line." Elfriede kneeled down to Carlos.

"Alright, here's my story. I went to Nog to pay my respects to the dead."

Elfriede almost laughed. "Respect? You?"

"Hey! Don't be so quick to judge!" Carlos coughed up some blood. "Looks like you hit something vital."

Connar twisted his blade. "You'll live if you start talking. You got time, and I didn't hit anything you need."

Carlos gave a grin as blood leaked down his cheek. "I heard Houraians had pulled out, so I thought I'd head over there while the going was good." Carlos laughed then regretted it as more blood came out of his mouth. "I suppose it is a bit out of character though, what with me being a spy and all."

"So it's like that, is it?"

Alice came into the fueling station and saw what was happening. "Get off him!" Alice's will'o sparked as she drew her spear.

Connar pointed his fist to her and his thorn launched out to form a wall, stopping her.

"Fine, we'll pick this up later." Elfriede wanted to leave to keep things from getting ugly.

"As you wish." Connar pulled out his blade and stood up.

"Hey!" Carlos held out his hand.

"Alice will fix you, I said you'd live."

Alice ran past Connar and placed her hands on Carlos wound, her hands glowed with will'o as they healed him. "You're evil Connar."

Connar stopped walking. "I don't hear whispers. If you have something to say, say it then."

"You're evil!"

"No. I do what's needed." Connar looked over his shoulder. "You know nothing of evil, little girl." Connar and Elfriede left the fueling station.

Alice healed Carlos' wound and helped him up. "You okay?"

Carlos patted his chest to feel his injury was gone. "I'll live."

"What did they want?"

"Wanted to know what I was doing. Told them what I did. Though they did buy it."

"Darn it! I should have been here!"

"Hey now." Carlos rested a hand on Alice's head. "You going with me was enough."

"But still..."

"Alice!" Leon ran into the station. "There's something you need to know!"

...

Connar had just entered his cell as he could hear footsteps. The cell door opened and Natalia entered. "Your code seven exam has been issued. Make the necessary preparations, then sign yourself up. That is all, sinner."

As Natalia left Connar could feel his will'o seeping out from anger and at the same time, excitement. Connar had to calm himself to keep his will'o under control.

"Finally. My chance to kill that lap dog, I'll show you the meaning of pain." Connar filled his jacket pockets with supplies and left the cell.

Outside Connar ran into Alice and Leon. "Hey you two."

"Don't you 'hey' us!"

"What is it? Is this about Carlos?"

"No. I know you're going to take your code seven exam." Alice Drew her spear and pointed it an Connar's heart. "I can't stop you from fighting her, but you hurt her. I'll end you with everything I have."

"You still think you can beat me?" Connar pushed the spear aside and stood less then an inch in front of Alice, staring her down. "That lap dog is the one that put me here. This whole time I've let my hatred grow for this, for when I can take revenge."

"That's really petty Connar."

Connar grabbed Alice by her neck and extended his hidden blade. "Don't speak like you know me!"

Leon grabbed his gun but Alice held her hand out him. Connar pointed his blade to Alice to kill her, his hand was shacking as Alice looked at him without fear.

Connar let go of Alice and went back into his cell.

"Alice!" Leon looked over his sinner's neck.

"I'm fine Leon."

"Did you get what you came for?" Alice nods, she and her accessory leave the cell block.

...

"Damn it!" Connar punched his cell wall repeatedly. "I don't care about them! I don't care about anyone!" The fallen sank to his knees as he pounded his fists on the wall. "I don't care! I don't care. I don't... I don't..."

The world turned purple and Aries appeared. "You okay there Connar?"

"You tell me." Silence filled the cell. "I got attached to people."

"Is that so bad?"

Connar punched the wall again. "I can't get attached to anyone. I'm fighting to get my years down then I'm gone, but now." Connar punched the wall once more. "Now when I leave I'll miss them, but if I stay I'll be living in a cage." Connar stood up and turned to Aries. "What do I do? If I stay I'm not living. If I leave I'll be leaving behind everyone I made bonds with."

"So you can't decide."

"I don't know what I want! I want my freedom, but I want my friends!" Connar froze as he said friends, his legs gave out and he collapsed on his bed. "Friends... When did I...?"

Aries smiled and ruffled Connar's hair. "You can both, just have to bring about the great transformation."

"Freedom for all. To get it I have to become a god, to do that I have to get stronger."

Aries gives a nod. "And to do that you'll have to face Devaja someday."

"Thank you Aries." Connar stood up and gave her a hug.

"You, you're welcome." Aries was a loss of what to do.

Connar let go of Aries and rubbed his eyes. "Thank you for that. Now, I have a debt to settle." Aries patted Connar's shoulder and faded away as the world returned to normal.

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	86. Flames of old hatreds

Chapter. 86

Connar arrived in the geo front for his code seven exam. The fallen's hands were shacking, he was finally going to have his revenge for the hell he was thrown into.

"The code seven exam pits a sinner against an agent of the office of peace and stability." Natalia's voice echoed through the geo front. "In your case, me." Connar felt his will'o seeping out again. "Give it your all. You're going to have to."

_"I've been waiting for this day, for too long!" _Connar couldn't contain his excitement any longer, he was ready to make Natalia pay.

Natalia stood on the higher levels of the geo front as she looked for Connar through the scope of her sniper rifle. "Come out worm! You're only proving yourself as a coward!"

_"I've waited this long, I was to saver it when I spill you blood."_

After looking for a few minutes Natalie reached for her earpiece to call her accessory. "Report!" All she got was static on the other end.

Natalie leaped down to go find her accessory, when she reached its position her robotic partner was torn to bits. See stopped and looked around then rolled aside as Connar fell from the roof and pierced the ground with his katana.

"Right into the trap, now!" Natalia shouted into her earpiece and p and s agents flooded into the geo front from all side.

As the officers surrounded Connar felt his will'o flared and lashed out in an eruption, greatly injuring the officers. Natalia covered her eyes from the flash of light.

As she lowered her hand Connar was running towards her and swung his katana. Natalia held out her short sword to block, the force of the impact still staggered Natalia.

"Needing others to fight your battles!? You never change!"

"Look who's talking!" Natalia countered each of Connar attacks, stopping his advance.

Natalia backed away and grappled to a higher level as more agents came down. "Time to put your abilities to the test, worm!"

As the agent drew closer Connar swung his blade to launch sword beam at them, cutting the agents in half.

Connar felt a sharp pain from his left eye and covered it with his right hand. "I have nothing to prove to you! I've fight with Abel, I've killed more enemies then you'll ever meet, I've burned down a whole panopticon! What more do you want from me?!"

"It's what the panopticon wants from you!" Natalia took aim and fired her sniper at Connar.

The thief spotted her and created a thorn wall to save himself. "I don't give a damn about your panopticon. Right now..." Connar stepped out of behind his thorn wall and drew his assault rifle, returning fire on Natalia. "What I want is to see you cut up into a bloody mess!"

"Then you better not hold back. I'll be trying to kill you, and I expect you to return the favor."

Connar grappled to the higher level and threw a flare knife at Natalia. "Gladly!"

Natalia held up her sniper rifle to block the knife. The blade went through half the gun barrel, making it useless. Natalia threw it aside and drew her short sword.

Connar rushed after Natalia, swinging his sword. Natalia blocked each of his attacks and planted her heeled boot into his chest. "I can read your moves, worm."

"Shut up!" Connar jumped to his feet and continued his attack.

"Show me that power you love to show off so much!"

"I don't need will'o to kill you!"

"Fighting me like a wild animal isn't going to help you!" Natalia knocked Connar's weapon aside and got a good slice along his arm.

The pain fueled Connar's rage, he extended his wrist blade and cut into Natalia's stomach. "That's all you think of people? Animal?"

"I will defend my panopticon at all costs. Even if that means using methods that others find... Cold blooded." Natalia and Connar clashed their blades into a struggle of strength. "The question is, can you do the same?"

Connar gave way and sidestepped, letting Natalia stumble past him and score a slash along her back with his katana. With the officer down Connar threw his thorn at Natalia and hurled her to the lower level.

"What do you know?! You hide away in you con, sending countless lives to their deaths! You're the coward here, you and the rest of the spineless liars who think their the ones running the show!" Connar jumped down to lower level, his eyes flared with will'o from his anger. "You're con would be rubble if not for me, so don't think for a second that you're better than me. I've kept your panopticon safe, and I can burn it to the ground just as easily."

Natlalia pushed herself back onto her feet. She glared angerly at Connar, tightening her grip around her sword. "Do you think, someone like you, can do something as important as protecting the panopticon! You're just brute that only knows how to destroy!"

"Then I'll destroy everything! Including this living hell!" A will'o aura formed around Connar.

"What is it about you, the pisses me off so much!?"

"Because you're scared."

"What did you say?!"

"I'm not like the other sinners you can boss around! You're threats of years don't scare me, I my fall but I'll get back up and closer to ripping you to shreds. That's why you're anger. You're scared because you can't tame me!"

"You're attitude, you're voice, you're face, I'm sick of all of it." Natalia swung her sword and took a fighting stance. "I think it's time, we settled this!"

"GLADLY!" Will'o flared off of Connar as charged for Natalia. He rased his swung and to slice Natalia in half.

The officer blocked with her sword but hurt her hand wrists in the process. Connar's attacks were getting stronger and Nataila knew she couldn't take him is raw power.

She stepped aside to let Connar stumble past her, the thief exstended his hidden blade and stabbed her in the ribs. "You thought I'd fall for my own trick?" Connar was grinning but his eyes showed great rage.

Natalia punched Connar in the nose to stun his and used her thorn to get away. When she was far enough she throw a flash bang to blind Connar, as he was left staggered Natalia dashed to Connar and ran her sword through his abdomen. "Once a fool, always a fool!"

Connar dropped his sword and grabbed onto the sword's blade with his bare hand while punched Natalia in the face with the other. The officer was knocked down and let go of the sword. "Speak for yourself!" Connar pulled the sword and threw it at Natalia.

Natalia dodged the incoming weapon and used her thorn to retrieve it while Connar picked up his. The two clashed their blades, not giving an inch.

"Over grown ape!"

"Stubborn bitch!"

The two stepped back to break to stand out. Natalia attacked with quick jabs while Connar overreacted with stronger strikes.

"Arrogant sinner!"

"Spoiled sow!"

With each of Natalia's strikes Connar deflected and sent her sword arm reeling, buy enough time to counter her next attack.

"Worm!"

"Lap dog!"

Natalia looked down at Connar's wound as saw it healing slowly. Seeing the unnatural sight made Natalia lose focus for a moment. In that moment Connar struke Nataila's sword and sent it flying into the air, following up with a slash down Natalia's body.

A large gash opened on Natalia, spilling her blood. The officer froze from the pain and shock of what happened.

Connar threw down his weapon and grabbed Natalia by her coat, throwing her into a wall. Natalia reached for her will'o case, Connar stomped on her arm and stabbed her in the shoulder with his wrist blade, twisting it until her shoulder blade popped.

Natalia screamed in pain as she lost the use of her right arm. Connar grabbed Nataila's coat again and lifted her up. The thief reeled his arm back and punched Nataila in the face repeatedly with a few to the large wound on her body.

Connar didn't stop until his fist was bloody and Nataila was barely conscious. Connar threw her against the wall, he used his thorn to get his katana back and pointed it at Natalia's heart. "I've waited a long time for this."

Natalia coughed up blood and looked up at Connar as her vision blurred. "You... got, what you, wanted..." Connar only glared down at Natalia as her life was fading away. "Please, I..." The officer coughed up more of her blood. "Look after, after Al, Alice..."

"I'm not her mom, she can look after herself. Besides that's what Leon's for."

"I guessed it'd be-" Natalia almosted chocked on her blood. "Be too much, for a, mon, monster like you." Natlia looked back up at Connar. "Your eyes. They look just Abel's, ready to... to..."

Natalia was losing focus as she was fading into unconsciousness. She felt a warmth coming from her chest as her pain was disappearing. Nataila opened her eyes to see Connar healing her gash with med-kits charged will'o packs.

The large gash was closed but Natalia's other wounds were only lightened and still hurt. Natalia was baffled as she looked at Connar. "Why-"

"Because I'm nothing like Abel. I still don't like you but I know people still need you." Connar stood up and clapped his hands to clean them. "Besides, Alice is my friend. I lose sleep when my friends are hurting."

Connar picked up Natalia, carrying her bridle style. "Put me down!"

"Your main injury is treated but you still need real care. You want to die here? Because I'll drop you if that's what you really want." Natalia's expression relaxed as she looked away, embarrassed. "That's what I thought." As Connar carried Natalia out of the geo front he felt like he was leaving something behind.

He turned back to see the blood he spilled from Natalia. _"All that anger, rage, bloodlust. Gone. I feel better."_

Connar looked down at Natalia who gave him an annoyed look. "What are you smiling about?"

"Nothing. Let's take you home."

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	87. Changing

Chapter. 87

Alice paced around as she and Leon waited outside the geo front. Leon grabbed Alice by her shoulders to make her stop. "You need to calm yourself. Worrying won't do you or Natalia any good."

"But she's with Connar! You know-" The doors opened and Connar walked in, carrying Natalia. "Natay!" Connar laid Nataila on the ground and Alice got to work healing her with will'o.

"You didn't kill her?" Asked Leon.

"No I didn't kill her, what kind of animal do you think I am?" Connar brushed past the accessory, once his back was to everyone he raised his hand to cover his left eye.

Alice finished healing Natalia and helped her up. "What happened?"

...

_"Let me out, now!"_

"Go to hell..." Connar stood in his cell with his hand on a wall with his other hovering over his left eye, blazing with will'o.

_"You can't escape it, I will get out. It's only a matter of time."_

"Shut up, you have no control over me!"

Connar's hand flicked and launched his hidden blade, holding his blade to his throats. _"I can end you right here."_

"Then do it." Connar's hand stayed still and he grinned. "You can't, because you need me." Connar regained control of his hand, lowering it and retracting his blade.

Connar heard footsteps that slowly got louder as they drew closer. His door opened and Natalia stepped in with Alice and Leon right behind her. "Can I help you?" Connar's voice held no anger towards Natalia.

"You've been promoted to code seven. Congratulations."

"What did you expect?" Connar rested his hands on his hips as he grinned.

"Hourai and their pawns are only going to get rougher from here on out." Natalia stepped closer to Connar and placed her hand on his shoulder. "We'll be counting on you."

"Hourai is going to burn, that you can count on that."

Natalia nods and left the cell. Once the door closed Alice spoke up. "Thank you Connar, for not killing Natay."

Connar put his hands in his coat pockets and looked away. "I only did what was right."

"That's not the whole truth Connar." Alice moved closer to Connar and kissed his cheek. "You're a good person Connar, no matter how much you try to hide it." Alice walked out of the cell. Leon gave Connar a bow and followed his sinner.

"Can you really call someone a good person when they're stained in so much blood?"

The fallen's accessory spoke up as it received a message. "The citizen Gene requests a meeting with you."

"Fine. I need some air anyway." Connar left his cell as well.

...

Down at Zakka Connar spotted Gene, waving to him as he got closer. "Hey Gene."

"I heard you got your code seven clearance! Congratulations!"

"It was nothing. So what did you call me for?"

"Straight to the point then. I've got a little reward for you to celebrate. And to say thank you for what you did for me before." Gene waited for Connar to guess what it was, but the sinner didn't answer. "It's information on Them. I had a word with Julien. He still hasn't decrypted the intel you got on why they were holding Beatrice prisoner."

"So what is it?"

"Well, I think I can help you. I've thought of a way you can decode the data. But before you do this, you should know."

"What?"

"There is no shadier or more mysterious organization in the entire panopticon then them."

Connar folded his arms. "So what do you know about them?"

"They're an incredibly secretive cadre at the very top of the command chain. We know they exist, but beyond that we know very little. Everyone who ever got anywhere nears them has vanished, and not even Natalia has high enough clearance to investigate them."

Connar grinned as folded his arms. "They're not gonna stop me, I'll kill anyone in my way. So where is this data?"

"I thought you'd say that. I've managed to get hold of a passcode for a restricted sector on level seven of the cell garden."

"That where they keep their data stash?"

Gene nods to agree. "I'm pretty confident that if you can get in there, you'll be able to find decryption algorithm."

"Thanks for the tip, I'll be going then."

"Now, I want you to be careful, alright?"

Connar waved his hand. "I'll be back." Connar didn't stay to listen to Gene and left for his cell block.

...

Connar headed for the cell garden and spotted Julien. "Hey J! What brings you here?"

"Gene called be to help you get the algorithm." Julien pointed to the door. "The restricted sector where they keep all their most classified data is on this level of the cell garden. It's heavily guarded, though, so expect to meet some serious resistance."

"Well it wouldn't be fun otherwise, now would it?" Connar drew his katana and went in. Walking into the garden Connar stood in a large room littered with three feet wall. Connar stopped as the room was too quiet and punched the ground to create a thorn wall.

As his fist touched the ground four accessories rose up from behind some of the scattered cover and opened fire. Connar rolled from his cover and swung his sword to launch a sword beam at one of them.

The accessory was cut in half, but Connar covered his left eye and dove back behind his thorn wall. The accessories resumed fire, destroying the thorn wall.

Connar dropped his sword and drew his assault rifle. The thief dove for cover behind one of the small walls, he stood up and fired at one of the accessories. Connar charged his gun with will'o and fired on another accessory.

"Graa!" Connar hind behind the small wall as his eye began to hurt once more. "What's happening?" Will'o seeped from Connar's left.

The two remaining accessories ran around the wall to flank Connar on both sides, once they got into position Connar threw his thorn to the roof and pulled himself up. The accessories opened fire and destroyed each other.

Connar return the ground and picked up his katana, he sheathed his weapons and continued into the cell garden. Stepping through the door Connar pressed his back on a wall and slide down. His eye was in pain again as he raised his hands to cover it.

_"Stop resisting me and let me out, now!"_

"No! I trusted you and you backstabbed me as soon as I shook your hand!"

The world turned purple and Devaja appeared before Connar. "You agreed didn't you? So you can't complain."

"I'm my own man." Connar slowly rose to his feet with his left hand over his eye as will'o dripped from it. "I'm not letting you or a one control me!"

Devaja reached for Connar's will'o case and drew his sword. Pain slowed Connar's reflexes to stop him. "Look at you're blade." Devaja held up the katana to Connar, showing thief his reflecting. "Now look at me." Devaja lowered the weapon. "See something there."

Connar's breathing increased rapidly, Devaja smirked. "That's right Connar, you look just like me."

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	88. Faith

Chapter. 88

"Impossible. No, No! No that's impossible!" Connar was having trouble breath.

"Is it? I've been with you since you were a year old." Devaja tossed the katana into the air and stepped back. Connar jumped to grab the weapon and bring it down of Devaja. The invader sidestepped the blade and stomped on it while he struke Connar in the face with his elbow. "You think you can beat me with MY fighting style?"

Connar back away to rethink his strategy. He extended his hidden blades charged. Devaja stomped on the katana's hilt to send it spinning into the air and caught it, he held out the blade to catch the hidden blades and kicked Connar in the chest.

Connar was pushed back against the wall and Devaja plunged the sword into Connar chest, breaking through the wall as well.

"You're skills in combat, acrobatics, snap diction making, leader traits, and control of will'o. Did not once question why you were so strong? Did you just think you were a prodigy?" Connar grabbed a hold of the sword's blade, trying to pull the weapon out him and cutting his hands.

Devaja pushed the sword deep until the hilt was up to Connar's chest, slicing Connar hands so badly that blood flowed out of them. "Your body was crafted for me when the time was right. You're just left over, unused material. You what we do with unused material?" Devaja jerked the blade to make Connar cry in pain, but the thief was fading fast. "We throw it away."

...

Connar woke up to see a black sky. He sat up to find himself on a narrow path with all-purpose biped abductor on both sides leading to a doorway of light, behind the abductor was a city on fire.

Connar stood up and patted his chest to find his hand covered in blood as his wound was still there. "I'm I in hell?"

"No, not yet." Aries stepped out from the door of light. "You're back in the immaterial plane-"

"The magical, mystical realm between life and death. I get it."

Aries crossed her and pouted. "You're no fun."

"I'll excuse me if I don't feel like playing. Knowing now that my, no..." Connar fell to the ground, will'o seeping up from his body. "I never existed..."

"Connar!" Aries kneeled down to Connar and grabbed his arms. "You can't give up-"

"Or what? The world needs me? I don't feel saving the world right now." Connar faded away from the plane.

Connar found himself in the ruins of the city, people wondered around aimlessly looking for something. One of them was a sinner and approached Connar. "Where's my unit!? I need to find them!"

"I don't know where they are." The sinner walked away from Connar, shouting names. "What was that?"

"Connar!" Aries appeared next to Connar. "Found you! You need to leave, now! This is as close to death as you can get without crossing over."

"What's wrong with everyone?"

"Those with regrets can't fully die, you're still clinging to something in the living world. So what are you still clinging too?"

"What's there to cling too? Nothing about me is real, it was all him."

"Every hero has to make a serious choice. Fight with honor make your rivals fear your voice."

Connar and Aries heard singing and followed after it to found a woman singing to some children. She had long sky blue hair and a white dress.

"Die in battle to perpetuate your name. Or run from danger just to live another day. Real heroes never fear the pain or death. Every soldier fight until their final breath."

"Excuse me?"

The woman stopped and turned to Connar. "Hello there."

"Hi. What was that song you were singing?"

Connar walked closer to the woman and the children gathered around her. "It's okay everyone, he won't hurt us, right?"

"No but back to my question."

"It was a song my father sang to me, as his father did, and his mother did."

Connar grinned lightly. "So it's a family song. Who are you?

"Azuki."

"Connar, this is Aries."

"Is she your girlfriend?"

"No. So what was that song about?"

"It's about a warrior who fights for what they believe, that nothing can stop them as long as people believed in them and becomes a hero."

"Heroes." Connar spoke with disgust.

"Do you not like heroes?"

"Heroes are just ways for people with power to force the ones below them to die for them."

"What do you believe in?" Connar just looked away. "You don't know, then maybe you should look for it, then again if you're here it may be too late."

"Thanks." Connar put his hands in his coat pockets and walked away. "Heroes, huh?"

Aries did the same and walked beside him. "What do you want to do?"

"What can I do? I can beat Devaja, my skills, my will'o, everything came from him. I'm just left over good."

"Left over goods are still goods. And you're wrong." Connar stopped and turned to Aries. "You're will'o didn't come from Devaja, not at first."

"What?"

Aries put her finger on Connar's nose. "Remember you're other self? That was you're will'o, be it unstable but it was yours. When you beat Dracula you put your will'o to sleep and starting using Devaja's" Aries lowered her finger to Connar's heart. "That's how he got in your head and began worming his way out."

""I can't control it."

"You can now, haven't you been practicing?"

"So if I use my own will'o, will I have a shot?"

Aries gave a slight nod. "A shot, but that's it."

"But-" Aries grabbed Connar by his head and turned his to see himself in a broken mirror. Connar walked towards it seeing only himself. "Hey." The image only stared back. "Sorry for, no I'm not sorry. You had to be stopped, but now. Now I need you, I need to be whole. It's selfish I know but isn't that what it means to be human?"

The image shacks its head making Connar sigh. "I know. Words mean nothing so let me have a chance to start fresh. I was afraid if growing attached to other because I didn't want to lose them. A life alone isn't living, it's existing. I'll stop pushing others away, I'll stop pushing you away. I wanna to live."

The image held out its hand the reached out of the mirror. Connar smiled widely and quickly took it. "I wanna to live."

"Is that all you got?" Asked Aries.

"I wanna live."

"Say it like you mean it!"

"I wanna live!"

"With all your heart!"

"I WANNA LIVE!" Will'o flowed from the image and into Connar swallowing him in a bright light.

Aries covered her eyes as it grew brighter. "See Connar you have what it takes! Now go prove it!"

...

Devaja let go of the sword to let Connar hang from the wall. "You can keep that." Devaja walked away to head deeper into the cell garden. He stopped as a light glowed behind him and was growing brighter. "What?" He turned back to see Connar coated in will'o.

""My parents told me once told me. Right now, pretty much the easiest thing I can do is quit." Connar grabbed the sword in him by the hilt. "But I'm not going anywhere."

Connar pulled the katana out of him, swinging it to get most of his blood off. "You don't just give up halfway through, that's not the point. The point is the challenge... the path... the road to victory. You don't have that, then it doesn't mean anything!"

Blood dripped from his fingers and wound as it closed from the will'o. "And if you don't lose something on the way, then you don't deserve it! I've lost many, but now I'm keep what's important in mind... I have hope... I have to believe... Believe there is something better out there!"

Will'o sparked from his left hand and covered his sword. "Because I'll be _damned_ if monsters like you can roam free!"

Devaja grabbed a gun from one of the fallen accessories and fired at Connar. The thief deflected each bullet with his aura. "And in the end, I have the one thing that's needed to win this fight... The one thing you'll never have..."

Connar looked up at Devaja, his hair parted as his right eye crackled wildly with will'o. "I FIGHT FOR MY GODDAMN FRIENDS!"

Devaja drew a katana from his will'o case and swung it the launch a sword beam.

The beam detonated on contact with Connar, leaving a large cloud of smoke. A sword beam came from the smoke and flew past Devaja.

As the smoke cleared Connar stood unharmed and in his battle stance. "You'll have to do a little better than THAT!"

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	89. Seperation

Chapter. 89

The two fighters rushed each other with their blade ready to meet.

"I won't let you take my life away!" Connar's right eye sparked madly with will'o.

"You never had a life! You were just something left over from creating my new body!" Davaja's left eye burned brightly from his will'o.

"You just throw away unused goods? Do you know how waste full that is?!" Connar head-butted Devaja then sliced at his torso. Devaja staggered back from the attack with his hand over his chest. "You On High bastards think you can just that what you want from the surface and not face repercussions?"

Connar lunged at Devaja with his sword, his opponent deflected the attack but Connar followed with a quick stab to the ribs with his hidden blade. "All of you On High pricks are a bunch of self-entitled, gluttons. Stealing what you want and giving nothing back!"

Devaja regained his balance and struke at Connar's legs "Don't you get high and mighty with me you thief!" Connar jumped over the blade and Devaja threw his whole body against Connar to knock him down.

"That's different!" Connar rolled out of the way of Devaja's blade and got back on his feet to block another swing. "I needed what I was taking, and only took what I needed. You live in a floating city, what more do you need?!"

The two fighters locked their blades and will'o flowed out from the clash, blasting everything around them.

"This coming from someone who is also from On High. You throw you're lot in with the surface trash!"

"I was born there, nothing more!" Connar poured more will'o into his blade and started pushing Devaja back.

"Then you'll die like one of your surface trash!" Devaja fueled his weapon with will'o as well to stop Connar's advance.

Locked in a stalemate the two leaped back and heard cracking sounds. Looking around the hall cracks were forming in the air and along the walls.

"What is this?"

_"Just like last time, reality is breaking. Maybe..."_ Connar spun his sword and swung to the launch a sword beam at Devaja. "This is my power! Mighty enough to bend time and space!"

"No one has that kind of power!"

"Then explain it!"

"I'll explain it when you nothing but a memory!"

The fighters charged again striking each other's sword, leaving will'o to fly out and destroy the hall.

"How are you this strong? You shouldn't have any will'o!"

"We all have will'o, using your helped me learn to use mine!"

With each clash of their blades another crack appeared, spirits came out of the cracks and flew around the hall.

"What?" The two stopped their fight again as the hall was now filled with ghosts.

The wondering souls circled around Connar and passed into his body. "The dead would like a word with you."

Devaja jumped at Connar and brought his sword down on him. Connar held up his katana to block then move Davaja's weapon a side, followed by a backhand slap to get some distance.

"You think you can win fighting like that?!" Devaja felt a warmth on his face, when he realized it was will'o it exploded. The side of Devaja's face was burned greatly, most of the skin was gone with some of the muscle.

"I was made in your image, wasn't I?" Connar sidestepped Devaja's swing and stabbed him in the ribs, Connar followed up with a kick to Devaja's back to get him away.

"Enough of this!" A will'o ring formed behind Devaja, he ran towards Connar at blinding speed. Connar raised his sword but was too late, Devaja slashed at Connar as many times as he could at almost light speed. When he stopped Devaja kicked Connar in the back and watched him break into pieces as he fell.

Will'o glowed from all of the pieces and reattached to make Connar whole again. Connar put his right foot forward to stop his fall; he turned around and brought his sword down on Devaja, the thief's entire body soaked in his own blood.

Devaja held out his sword to block. "Wha, how, what did you do?!"

"Death has given me a free pass to kill you." Devaja struke Connar in the stomach with his knee then raised his katana to cut him in half. Connar's body began to split then will'o glowed along where his was cut in half and reconnected.

"What is happening!?" Devaja was starting to panic.

"The dead can't rest as long as you're alive. They won't let me rest until I 'correct' that." Will'o orbs formed around Connar, each of them creating a stream of will'o connecting to the thief.

"No… No! No this cannot be happening!" The will'o ring behind Devaja rapidly spun the buildup power. "You're not taking this from me!" Devaja dashed towards Connar once again with great speed.

Devaja swung his weapon expeditiously while Connar blocked each attack. The two blades clashed was a sonic boom echoed throughout the hall. "I've waited twenty years for this, I'm not gonna be stopped by a nothing like you!" Devaja pushed against Connar with everything he had but still couldn't gain any ground.

"Kaze was like a brother to you." Devaja flinched and Connar shoved him back. "He trusted you, and you drugged him and turned him into a monster. All for your will'o experiments to create the fallen."

"You don't know anything about what I was trying to do!"

"Scarlet was a top class sinner, everyone loved her. A little more than you, which is too much."

"I know what you're doing, it won't work..." Devaja was becoming shaken.

"You told her it was a training excise, and then turned her into a monster, another soul that couldn't control their will'o.

"Stop it!"

"Asaga, Mark, Jenifer, Grant, Viola, Peter. All of them and more are with me; they can't let go and die because you took their lives!"

"Stop it!" Devaja ran up to Connar trying to cut him down.

Connar put up his right arm and blocked the sword with his thorn, then grabbed onto Devaja's face. The will'o orbs hovered around them both, severing their will'o tendrils from Connar and reattaching to Devaja.

_"I trusted you." "You killed me!" "What did I do to you?" "You're the monster, not us!" "Why didn't you just stop?" "Why did you do this to us?" "Monster! Demon!"_

Devaja was paralyzed with fear by the voices coming from the will'o orbs; he dropped his katana as his breathing grew harder.

"Can you feel your sins crawling on your back? You can run and hide but the past will catch you."

"Devaja." A woman with long sky blue hair in a white dress appeared beside Devaja.

"Asuki…?"

Connar let go of Devaja, letting him fall to his knees. "That's right. You were getting desperate after Rose escaped; you needed a test subject to continue your work. So you used your own wife." Connar raised his sword over his head. "Roast in the hell for people like you."

"No!" Asuki stood in between Connar and Devaja with his arms out. "Please, don't."

Connar looked inquisitively at the woman and lowered his weapon. "You'd ask me to spare this demon? The one who took your life and many others?"

"Leave his judgement to those he's wronged-"

"He's 'wronged' me! My whole life has been a lie; everything I've done was because of him. I, I…"

Asuki placed her hand on Connar's chest, feeling the wound he received before his fight began. "You've been hurt greatly by my husband. Can you truly claim that you'd be nothing if not for him?"

"All of my talents came for Devaja."

"Think of them as tools to help you survive in our shattered world." Asuki lifted her hand to hold the side of Connar's face. "You need to let go of your anger for Devaja, if you don't you're giving him power over you. Power he doesn't disserve."

_"It's the same with Natalie; I let my anger blind me for so long."_

Asuki removed hand and stepped aside. "Do as you feel is right, just remember one thing. Those who fight monsters should make sure they don't become one."

Connar looked down at Devaja and sheathed his sword. The wil'o orbs moved closer to Devaja till they were on him, the will'o light swallowed the man then faded away.

Asuki bowed to Connar as the light was gone. "Thank you Connar, their souls will soon find rest. As will I."

"Why are you so caring about the surface? You're from On High, right?"

"As are you, not everyone from On High sees the people of land below as lesser beings." Asuki gave Connar one more bow then faded away.

The cracks in the air closed and the world returned to normal. The adrenaline was subsiding in Connar and felt heavy. "I still have a job to do… After a nap, maybe." Connar pressed his back on a wall and slid down to a sitting position, falling asleep before it hit the floor.

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	90. Unexpected Ally

Chapter. 90

Connar slowly began to regain conciseness, he opened his eyes and blinked a few times before rubbing his face.

"Natay he's waking up!"

"Alice?" Connar pushed himself up to find that he was on a couch in a clear yet simple apartment. "Where am I?" Connar patted his chest to find his wound was gone and that he was wearing a peace and stability uniform. "And why am I in this?"

Alice sat in a chair across from the couch with a coffee table between them. "Julien called me said you didn't come out of the cell garden so I went in to look for you. You were out cold and covered in blood so we took you to Natay's home for medical treatment, you weren't hurt so Leon cleared you up and got you some clear clothes."

Connar covered his chest with his arms. "My innocents, stolen."

"Spare me; you're not even close to being innocent of anything!" Natalie stepped into her living room. "What were you doing in the cell garden?"

"I was looking for info on Them, the people running this con."

"And why's that?"

"Natay calm down." Alice spoke with stern in her voice. "You know Connar isn't the spy, and you know why he was looking."

Natalie took a breath and pushed up her glasses. "Yes, it's about you're cousin Beatrice."

"You sold her out." Connar stood up with his fists clocked in will'o.

"No! I mean, okay yes but… Natay can help us!"

"I will not!" Natalia stomped her foot but the sinners paid it no mind. "I'm going to be a tool for both of you to-"

"Okay just drop it Natay!" Connar cut her off. "You know as well as I do that this con is run by people serving On High."

"You can't-"

"On High attacked when I saved Beatrice, they need her for something. When Alice and I gained control of our will'o On High attacked again."

"You can't prove that!"

"The one leading the raid was my cousin Sylvia, Beatrice's older sister. She was after me personal; the point of the attack was to get me out of the way."

"Alice as well." Leon joined into the conversation. "When Alice was locational by On High forces they converged to eliminate her, but retreated as they were suffering too many casualties."

Connar folds his arms as he glares at Natalia. "Now are you going to tell me this was all a coincidence?"

Natalia calmed down and pushed up her glasses. "Do you have any physical proof of this?"

"I do." Leon transferred the audio from the attack to Natalia's tablet.

As she listened to it through her earpiece Natalia's revolve was starting to shake. "This, this enough. This is a trick make by the enemy!"

"On a commutations line that no one can get into? The proof is in the code seven cell garden, you'll see when we find it. Then we'll know just how much us panopticon really cares about us. So what do you say?" Connar held out his hand.

Natalia looked at Connar's then grasped it firmly. "And when we find nothing I'll throw you back into code one for treason."

"Natay you don't-"

"Deal." Connar interrupted Alice and shook hands with Natalia. "Let's go find the truth." Connar walked to the apartment door, he opened it and looked back at everyone. "You all coming or not?"

Natalia took a deep breath and followed after Connar. Alice and Leon traded glances and chased after the two.

…

Down in the code seven cell block Connar opened the cell garden entrance, inside Connar fell a sense of dread in the air.

"Connar, you okay?" Asked Alice.

"I am, stay focused." Connar lead his comrades through cell garden, as they walked through the halls he could shake the feeling that something was wrong.

Finally reaching the inner most sector of the garden the group found a large room filled with computer tower. A terminal stood in the middle of the area, Connar began type on the machine but found it was password protected. "Leon you try."

"Very well." The accessory typed on the terminal with lightning quick speed, looking through the systems open to him. "Interesting, this terminal uses On High level security."

Connar turned to Natalia with a smirk. "Still think On High isn't controlling you?"

"We take a lot of On High's technology, it doesn't mean anything."

Connar shook his head and looked over Leon's shoulder. "You know how to get in?"

"Yes, all On High systems keep a backdoor program in case it was taken over. It's just a matter of finding it."

"How do you know so much about On High security?" Asked Natalia.

Alice spoke up to answer. "Leon was programed by my parents, remember? My mother was from On High." Sirens blared throughout the garden as the group's only door out closed. "Leon what happened?!"

"A security back feed was tripped! I'll try to over it-"

Connar drew his rifle and charged it with will'o, opening fire on the door until there was nothing left. "Just get the data! Natay keep Leon safe, Alice you're with me!"

"Got it!" Alice drew her rifle, filling it with her will'o. "What's the plan?"

A large wave of accessories came running in for the other side of the hall. "Just open fire and let our will'o do the rest!" The fallen fired on the incoming machines.

The accessories couldn't gain any ground against the sinners as their weapons obliterated them with one will'o charged bullet. On the other hand Connar and Alice couldn't advance as the accessories didn't stop flowing in.

Machine parts piled up all around as the fighting continued. The accessories started taking cover behind the remains of their destroyed comrades. As the robots were gaining place to use as cover their were finally advancing.

"Well this hall is turning into a junk yard."

"Why aren't we fighting any sinners?"

"They're trying to soften us up first before sending in any real people. Cowards!" As Connar fired on one of the piles of machine parts his gun jammed. "What?!" Connar switched his rifle for his katana, he swung the weapon to launch a sword beam at the approaching accessories.

"I'm not going to die here. Not to a bunch of robots, that's just insulting."

"Leon!" Shouted Alice.

"It's almost done, just a few more minutes!"

"You got two we're running out of room out here!" As Connar cut down another accessory he saw a few coming in with grenade launchers. "Yes that's just what we needed right now!" His voice was thick with sarcasm.

A grenade was fired into the air, heading straight for the fallen sinners. Alice tried to shot it but her gun wasn't accurate enough. Connar reeled his right arm back to create a thorn wall when a bullet came from behind him and hit the grenade, blowing it up midair.

Connar and Alice turned around to see Natalia holding her sniper rifle. "The fact that you two are still alive up to now is nothing short of miraculous."

"It's done!" Leon pulled a data disk out of the terminal and rejoined the others. "How do we leave?"

"Like this! Cover me!" Connar channeled his will'o into his weapon, hoping to push the accessories back with one powerful attack.

Alice and Leon fired at the accessories as they came out of hiding to shot and Natalia shot down any incoming grenades.

Connar's sword shined with a purple light as he poured his will'o into and swung the blade. The katana cut through the air and opened a rift into the immaterial plane. "What the?" Looking into the rift the hall was clear of accessories and scrap piles while behind it was the warzone that continued to rage on.

"Everyone inside!" Connar grabbed Natalia by her hand and jumped into the rift. Alice did the same with Leon and followed.

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	91. The pain of truth

Chapter. 91

Connar and Natalia fell into the rift and into the immaterial plane, the thief swung Natalia away from the rift as Alice and Leon can in after them.

Connar stood up and saw the accessories looking into the rift, but before they could do anything Aries appear and waved her hand over the rift to seal it.

"Well that was close!" Giggled Aries.

"Thank you Aries." Connar placed his hands on his knee as he caught his breath. "What was that?"

"That is this!?" Natalia stood up and looked around the hall, everything had a purple tint to it which make the officer uneasy.

Aries grinned and opened her mouth to speak but Connar cut her off. "Welcome to the immaterial plane! The magical, mystical realm between life and death!" Connar looked back at Aries, who was glaring daggers at him. "To barrow a phase from a certain someone."

"How did we get here? What is this place?!"

"This can't exist, this isn't possible..." Leon was also having trouble grasping the situation.

"Natay, Leon, come with me, I can explain it all." Alice pulled the two away to explain.

Connar also pulled Aries away for a talk. "Okay so, you mind telling me what I just did?"

Aries folded her arms and shifted her weight on one leg. "I'd think you'd be smart enough to know that."

"That's not what I'm asking, I just literally cut a hole in reality. How did I do that?"

"You wanted an exit, so you made one. Simple!"

"No, not simple!" Connar sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "Is this another thing that Devaja can do?"

Aries waved her finger and poked Connar on the nose. "No. It's what YOUR will'o can do. Devaja is gone but his will'o is still in you. Though you won't be getting any of his abilities you can use it as fuel for your own. Think of it like this, everyone has will'o within them, you just have more. Much more!"

Connar's arms drooped at his sides. "So I have to relearn what I used before?"

"Do you?"

Connar summoned will'o to form an aura around him, he took out a will'o pack and absorbed it to cure his tiredness. "I still have my powers. The rift thing is all that's new."

"Give me your hand." Connar held out his hand and Aries held it with hers, her hands glowed with will'o for a moment then she let go. Connar looked at his hand which still shined with will'o. "When you open a rift you can seal it with this. You need to seal your rifts, if you make too many you destroy the fabric of reality."

"A power that can destroy everything. Not too much pressure, right?"

Aries smiled lightly at Connar. "Isn't it normal for a god to have the ability to destroy the world on a whim?"

"I'm not a god Aries."

Aries held the side of Connar's face, rubbing her thumb on his cheek. "Not yet, but when you bring about the great transformation you will be." Aries patted Connar's face then stepped back to fade away.

Connar shook his head and grinned as he turned to the others. "You get them up to date on everything Alice?"

"More or less, but how do we get out of here?"

Connar spun his katana and rested it on his shoulder. "The same way we got in, but we'll need to be in another area. Otherwise we'll be in the same situation we just escaped from."

"This is all so much to take in..." Natalia was feeling over whelmed by everything that had happened."

"Let get ready for more because we still have that data to look through." Connar lead the way through the cell garden, the halls were eerie empty and unsettling.

"How much further in it?" Asked Natalia.

Connar smirked as he looked over his shoulder. "You scared?"

"Connar!" Shouted Alice.

"Fine, sorry." The group left the cell garden and returned to the cell block. "Okay everyone, time to return to the real world!"

"Connar wait!" Alice grabbed Connar's arm. "We're in a public place. What do you think people will do when they see us coming out of a hole is space?"

"Good point, so what would a good place to return?"

"How can you two be so calm about all this?" Asked Leon.

Alice shrugged with a limp smile. "Well, we still don't know what the limits to will'o is. So I figure, just go with the flow and see what happens."

Leon looks around then nods. "Very well, I suggest we return to Natay's apartment then return to the real world from there."

"We're not using my apartment like that!"

Connar raised an eyebrow to Natalia. "You got a safer place? If you're worried about having a rift to another world in your bedroom I can close it."

"That don't make me feel any better." Natalia gave up and followed the others to her home. She opened the door to let them in.

"Here we go." Connar stood in the middle of Natalia's living room and charged his weapon with will'o until it glowed people. The fallen swung the blade and cut a hole in space to the real world. "Okay, everyone in." Connar jumped through the rift.

Alice gave a thumbs up to her friends before she leaped into it. Natalia jumped through as well, followed by Leon. Once everyone was through Connar's right glowed, he held his glowing hand to the rift and watched it close.

With the rift closed Connar fell to one knee to catch his breath. "That was just as draining... As the first one."

"Connar?" Alice rest a hand on his back. "Leon can you get some water."

"No, Leon needs to get to work on the data."

"Okay, I'll get it." Alice ran to get the water.

Leon and Natalia got to work on the decoding the data. Connar struggled to get back on his feet and fell on the sofa. "Any luck?"

"Yes, the decryption algorithm was stored with the data. They didn't think anyone would find it."

Connar shook his head in amusement. "That's like hiding a key next to the lock it's meant to open."

"Here it is." Natalia opened the files and started to read, as she went on face was drained of color.

"You okay there Natay?"

The officer dropped her tablet and fell back into one of her armchair. "Natay, what's wrong?" Alice gave the water to Connar and stood by Natalia's side.

Leon picked up the tablet and handed it to Connar. "You were right."

Connar took the tablet and read the open files. "Lists of panopticons On High will hit and when, troop movements to keep the population under control, targets of interest in retributions. Look here, says that in the last retribution attack on our con Alice and I were the main targets. They were even nice enough to tell On High where to look."

"That's not possible!" Countered Alice. "The panoticons fight to stay alive, why would they just let On High walk all over them?!"

"This is On High we're talking about. You remember Sylvia and how she was so willing to disown her sister because she came down to the surface?"

"She-"

"On High doesn't people living on the surface as people, just a means to continue their fatten existent. Anyone who falls is no longer a human in their eyes, just another tool to make their lives a little more comfortable."

"Leon?" Natalia took a deep breath. "Delete this data."

"What!?" The sinners were stunned by Natalia's orders.

"Understood."

Connar stood up and pointed the tablet at Natalia. "No you can't do this!"

"Do you know what we have?!" Natalia stood up as well. "What we have could under mind everything we fight for! If this gets out the whole panopticon would break down into anarchy!"

"So you're fine with being a slave to On High?! How can you say that know this exists?"

"We have a system in place to keep this panopticon going."

"Which is flawed. How are things going to change if we don't do something about it?"

"It doesn't need to change!" A silence hung in the air for a moment before Natalia continued. "There's nothing we can do against On High. They attack us and take our citizens, resources and kill our sinners. All we can do is make sure they don't get all they thought they would."

"And they know we're going to fight back, even guessing what they'll lose in the effort."

"Then what do you suggest we do?"

"I don't know yet."

"You know yet?"

"I don't know!"

Natalia stomped her leg and glared at Connar. "Then don't act like you can do something about it, worm!"

Another silence hung in the air, this Connar was the one who broke it. "People told me that no one cares more about the panopticon them you. Guess that means bowing down to your masters."

Natalia swung her hand to slap Connar, who caught it. "Get out."

"Fine." Connar let go of Natalia and headed for the door, he opened it and turned back to the officer. "Enjoy you shackles, lap dog." Connar stepped out and shut the door behind him.

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	92. A blade of hope

Chapter. 92

Connar returned to his cell and laid on his bed, the day was hit and miss for him. He was free of Devaja but felt like his will'o was weakened. He gained a new ability but it held the power to destroy everything. He was even starting to make friends with Natalia, but now that was over with.

Connar shook his head and took out Natalia's tablet from his coat, realizing he was still wearing a P and S uniform. "That might've gotten me some looks." Connar chuckled to himself and turned on the tablet.

Connar scanned through the files to find the data on the panopticon's connections to On High we erased. "In the end, she really is just a lap dog." Connar opened the remaining file, the data was about Beatrice.

_**"It all stemmed from learning that the casket caused the great loss that wiped out Arcadia. When its destructive power was learned panopticon around the world secretly looked for it. During the search it was discovered that the casket emits its own unique will'o field that will only respond to a very specific will'o energy signature."**_

_**"An energy signature that is tied to a specific person."**_

Connar lowered the tablet and leaned back against the wall. _"Beatrice's will'o can find the casket. Explains how we found the thing in the first place."_ Connar placed his hands behind his head and laid on his bed. _"But they found the casket after I saved Beatrice so how did they find it? Did they have the data they needed and didn't need Beatrice, or did we find it by random chance?"_

Connar sat up and rubbed his eyes. "But why can Beatrice's will'o find the casket? Did someone plan this or was it just a coincides?" The thief ran his hands through his hair as he looked up to the ceiling. _"Why is it that when one question is answered more show up?"_

Conar heard static coming from the tablet, he picked it up to see what was happening. "Data lost?" Connar looked through the tablet to find the files on Beatrice and the casket were missing. "Damn it Leon!" Connar stood up, he wanted to snap the tablet in half but tossed it back on his bed. "They all want to live as slaves then so be it!" Connar's left hand glowed with will'o. "I'll change this world and show them otherwise!"

The fallen drew his sword and raised it to create a rift, but stopped when he again looked at his clothes. "I'll need to change."

Connar put down his katana and took off the P and S uniform and changed into a red sleeveless shirt and midnight blue jeans with black boots. He put on a white jacket, filling its inner pockets with med kits, will'o packs, frag grenades, and a flare knife. Connar slipped on a pair of fingerless gloves and looked at his refection in his wall monitor.

Looking at his face in the refection Connar could help but see Devaja in himself. "No, stop think about it. He's gone, I've won. I'll crave out my own fate!" Connar picked up his weapon and cut open a rift, he grabbed the tablet and decide to return it later. Connar leaped into the hole in space and closed it behind him.

A new rift opened outside the fueling station, Connar came through and sealed it. "There's got to be an easier way to do that." Connar felt winded as he closed the rift and went in.

Inside Connar spotted Elfriede and Beatrice. "Elfy, Bea, how are you two doing?"

"We're fine Connar. Beatrice and I are just having a talk is all."

"About the spy mess?" Connar took a seat next Elfriede.

"Just making sure she's protected, wish it could be something else though. How about you?"

"Me? I'm fine thanks, I feel better that I have in a long time."

"You get your demons dealt with?" Elfriede replied jokingly.

Connar smiled lightly as her ruffled Elfriede's hair. "Yeah. Now all we have to do is deal with the demon we all have to face."

"Abel." Elfirede spoke the name with venom in her voice. "How are we supposed to beat him and his abductor?"

"Julien and I have been looking into it and might have found a way to bypass the damage dampeners on Red Rage, making it vulnerable."

"Really?!"

"You know how?" Connar and Elfriede asked to Beatrice's words.

"Well it's not finished, we still need some more time."

"So he still has the upper hand then." Elfriede was disheartened. "His still has the casket, who knows what he's doing with it?"

Connar leaned back on the sofa. _"As long as he doesn't have Beatrice the casket is worthless to him."_

"Mr. Connar!" A citizen came into the station with a weapon in hand. "Your ordered weapon is ready!" The citizen held out the weapon. It was a katana in a grey rectangular sheath with a red trigger just below the hilt and belt attached to it. The handle of the weapon shined like gold with three colored patches on the grip, red, blue, and purple. A green tassel hung off of the end of the handle.

"Thank you?" Connar stood up and took the weapon.

"You're very welcome!" The citizen bowed as left as quickly as they came.

"What is that?" Asked Elfriede moving to get a better look.

_"I didn't order this. Devaja must have had it made when he was in control! Then why does it look familiar?"_

"Connar, you there?" Elfriede snapped her fingers to wake Connar from his trance.

"Sorry, zoned out a bit."

"It looks so beautiful." Beatrice was memorized by the weapon.

"Let's go test it out." The three went outside to a less populated area of the warren. Once they were alone Connar looked at his weapon more closely, he took a hold of the handle and drew the sword out. The katana blade was a deep stainless silver that shined as the sunlight bounced off of it.

"It's so beautiful."

Connar smiled to his cousin and gave weapon a few swings. He channeled his will'o into the katana and the blade was engulfed in a blue light that followed the blade as he gave it a few more swings. "This is incredible! Light, fast, sharp. A prefect blade."

"Can I see it?" Elfriede held out her hands and Connar gave her the weapon. "It really cool I'll give you that. Why is there three different color spots on the handle?

"Let me!" Beatrice almost ripper the weapon away from Elfriede. She looked at hte weapon handle, being careful not to cut herself. "This are element gems, their used in abductors to give them their elemental abilities like fire, ice, and thunder."

Connar took his weapon back and held it upwards. "So if I..." Connar channeled his will'o into the katana again, this time focusing it on the red gem. The blade was engulfed flames. "This, is, sick!" Connar swung his sword, leaving trails of fire in its wake. The fallen charged more will'o into the gem and swung his weapon to launch a wave of fire into the air.

The fire crashed into a building, creating a hole with the wall melting around it.

"Careful with that!" Shouted Elfirede as melted concrete fell to the ground.

Connar channeled his will'o into the blue gem, this time a white mist formed around the blade. He swung the katana and ice participial hung in the air. With more will'o pumped into the the gem Connar slid the tip of the blade along the ground. A line of ice moved along the ground to the melting concrete, freezing it and leaving a spikes of ice in its path.

"There we go." Connar looked at the handle again, eying the purple gem. He charged his will'o into it and his sword began to crackle as lightning sparked around the blade. Connar gave the katana a powerful swing and launched a burst of electricity into the air.

Connar sheathed his new weapon and wiped the sweat from his forehead. "This is too real." Connar put on the belt attached to the sheath to keep the weapon at his side.

Beatrice was almost speechless from what so had seen and began to bombard Connar with questions. "When did you make this weapon? Did you know you're will'o would work so well with it? How did you know the elemental gem could work in such a way?"

"I don't know Beatrice, I honestly don't even remember ordering this thing."

Elfriede looked at Connar questionably. "Really now, so what else are you hiding?"

"If I told you would you believe me?"

"After seeing what you can? I'm willing to go on a little faith."

"So what will you name it?" Asked Beatrice. "Something like this needs a name."

Connar looked down at his weapon, noticing the trigger on the sheath he grabbed it and pressed the trigger. The katana fired out of the sheath and flew several feet away. "Well know we know about that little thing." Connar used his thorn to get his weapon back.

_"This is Devaja's weapon, probably meant to rule. Well jokes on him, I'll fix this world with this weapon and everyone the different between surviving and living." _Connar felt something shacking in his jacket, he reached inside and pulled out the tablet.

There was a message on it from Leon. _"Get to the code two cell block! Natalia."_

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	93. Mole hunt

Chapter. 93

"Where did you get that?" Elfriede pointed to Connar's tablet.

"This is Nataila's." Elfriede gave Connar a glare. "I took from her when we last spoke, okay?"

"When did you two get so chummy?"

"Code seven exam. Fighting let us get out of anger, though I would go as far as call us friends."

Beatrice covered her mouth as she giggled. "But you two aren't looking to kill each other, right? That's a step at least."

"Beatrice!" Alice and Leon can running for the panopticon. "I need to speak with you. Connar, you and Elfriede need to go see..." Alice trailed off when she saw the sword in Connar's hand. "That's so cool!"

"Isn't it? Still need to name it though."

"Alice." Leon patted his sinner on the back.

"Oh right! Connar and Elfriede you two need to go see Nataila like right now."

The duo looked to each other then back to Alice. "We'll get on it." Connar sheathed his katana and took off in a run with Elfriede right beside him.

"So what did you need me for?" Beatrice gave slight bow.

"Nothing much. Just thought we could hang out, you know? Talk about what you're been up."

"Okay then!" Beatrice, Leon, and Alice head to the panopticon, as they walked Alice and Leon were keeping watch for anything out of place.

...

"You're all here? Good." Nataila spoke as Connar and Elfriede arrived. Behind Nataila were four accessories guarding a large door, with them was Mattias and Uwe waiting as well.

Elfriede waved to her father as Connar saluted. The veteran nods with a grin and looks to Nataila. "What's this about? What are we all doing down here?"

Mattias hung his head as his hands drooped at his sides. "Yeah man, what is this shaz? You gonna try and accuse one of us of being the spy or something?"

"Silence, worm! The Houraian mole is about to be arrested!"

"What?! You know who the spy is?"

"Of course I do. What did you think I'd been doing all this time? Twiddling my thumbs? Speaking of which, Connar!" Natalia snapped her fingers and held out her hands.

Connar took the tablet out of his jacket and handed it to the officer. Natalia looked at her device and nodded. "Just as I thought. The traitor stole data from my tablet and now it's time to catch them."

Mattias eyes Connar as stepped back. "Why do you... Wait! Are you two-"

"NO!" Connar, Natalia, and Elfriede shouted in union. Connar cleared his throat. "I was just lending a hand."

Natalia shook her head and pushed up her glasses. "Anyways, the traitor overpowered my accessories with some sinners loyal to his cause."

"So we don't just have one turncoat, we have a whole cell."

"Correct. We've managed to corner him in one of the abandoned citizen's promenade sectors on this level."

"And you want us to go get him?" Asked Uwe.

"Exactly. But it's not going to be easy, they've got abductors in there. Make sure you're well prepared."

Connar drew his katana for everyone to see and pointed it to the door. "Open it up, time to cut down a rat."

The doors opened and everyone entered, waiting for them were two artillery abductors, one of them was armed with grenade launchers while the other had missile pods.

"Get the one with the grenade launchers!" Connar drew his sword and looked to the other one. "I got this one."

The air around Connar's katana turned cold, he swung his blade at the abductor twice to throw two masses of ice infused will'o at the missile pods to freeze them over.

The abductor's missile pods exploded as the missiles couldn't get out greatly damaging the abductor's main body. The cannon on top of the machine started to spin as it was running towards Connar.

Connar sheathed his sword as his hand hovered over the hilt. Once the abductor was closer Connar pressed the trigger on his sheath to shot out the katana. The fallen grabbed the weapon as it was being ejected from the sheath, the katana blade was set ablaze as Connar held his weapon and sliced through the abductor's leg.

The abductor fell to the ground with will'o pouring out of its severed leg. Connar spun his weapon and slashed the downed machine with his fire sword until it stopped moving completely.

As Connar ripped apart his target the other fought off the second artillery abductor. Uwe and Mattias used their thorns to drag down the robot while their accessories fired upon it.

Elfriede grappled to one of the abductor's grenade launchers, she extended her wrist blade and started cutting at the launcher. She extended her second blade to cut at from both sides.

When the machine returned to its feet Elfriede cut off the grenade launcher and the abductor fell back down. Elfriede backflipped over the abductor's cannon and landed next to the other one and began cutting at it with her blades.

On the ground Uwe punched through the abductor's armor and exposed the will'o lines. "Mattias!" Uwe stepped aside and let Mattias lunge his sword into the opening, tearing at several wires and spilling out will'o.

A wall was blown apart as a third abductor entered the citizen's promenade. A multipurpose biped with laser guns on its wrists and shoulder mounted grenade launchers.

The abductor aimed its laser guns at Connar, Connar waved his sword along the ground and walls of ice rose up. The lasers melted most of the ice before they gave out and primed for the second fire. Connar created another wall of ice to block the next laser blast and and stepped back to create another ice wall for the third shot.

As the ice melted from the lasers Connar threw his thorn at the abductor's shoulder, his weapon crackled with lightning as he swung down on the machine and cut halfway through it shoulder. Connar leaped off the abductor as it started jumping up and down.

The other noticed the new abductor and drew their firearms. Elfriede's minigun wormed up then fired a hailstorm of bullets into the will'o pod. Uwe fired rockets at the abductors should that Connar damaged and blow off the whole arm.

Connar grappled to a wall and launched ice at the abductor's second grenade launcher, freezing it over.

When the abductor used its launcher the grenades were stuck inside and destroyed the launcher as well as blowing off the machine's arm.

With no weapons the abductor started running towards the sinners. As they dove out of the way for the abductor Connar sheathed his katana and jumped off the wall, throwing his thorn to the roof to swing to the running machine.

Connar disconnected his thorn from the ceiling and flew towards the abductor. Connar planted his feet on the abductor's back and drew his sword to slice off the abductor's head. The thief hopped of the abductor and slashed into the machine as he charged his blade with electricity.

The abductor was split in half and fell apart, the two halves detonated before they hit the metal floor.

...

Connar slid his blade along the cell door to blast it open. Inside the cell Connar found Gene. "So you were the one who sold us out." Gene drew a flare knife but Connar sliced off his hand. "You know, there's a special place in hell off traitors."

Connar grabbed Gene by the neck and hurled him out of the cell and to the ground level. Mattias saw the falling citizen and caught him.

Connar leaped down and landed with a loud thud. Gene got away from Mattias and tried to run, Connar threw his thorn to pull him back and slam the citizen to the floor.

"Blast it all! I was so close!" Gene backed away into a wall with Connar's blade hanging an inch away from his throat as he crawled back. "So close to witnessing Abel's new world becoming a reality!"

Natalia stood behind Connar and placed her hand on his shoulder. "We can still gain information from him."

Connar glanced to the officer then back to Gene. "Still think I should him."

"Listen, fools! Open your eyes! Can you not see? Abel is the rightful ruler of this broken realm!"

Gene words got to Connar. _"Realm? Does Abel know about the immaterial plane?"_

"And all you need do is submit! Kneel and obey-"

"Shut up already!" Elfriede punched Gene in the side of the head to knock him out.

"Get him out of here!" Natalia commanded her accessories to remove the traitor.

As the machine took Gene away Julien came to join the sinners. "I heard the Gene was going to be arrested so I came quickly as I could. I just can't believe he was a spy for the houraians."

"Spies have to be good at hiding their trails. Don't beat yourself up over it." Uwe reassured the citizen.

Natalia grinned and pushed up her glasses. "But he didn't hide them well enough."

Connar sheathed his sword and turned to the officer. "So how did find him?"

"As an OPS officer, it's my duty to suspect everyone. We have eyes everywhere. And it's your duty to do as you're told." She looked over the sinners before she spoke again. "I'm going to search Gene's lab and see if I can uncover what he needed the data for."

"I'm going with you." Connar stepped up. "He the data on the tablet was about Beatrice. If this involves her then I want to know what."

"Good. Because you're all the only people in the panoticon that I half trust, so you're going anyway."

"Is it too much for you to just say 'thank you' Natalia?"

"You don't thank someone for doing what's expected of them!" Natalia walked away, Connar smirked as he and everyone followed her.

...

In Gene's lab Uwe, Natalia, and Connar were looking through the computer systems.

Natalia opened a file to see what Gene was up to. "This is..."

"What have you got? Asked Uwe.

"He was sending data back to Hourai about the casket, and about manoeuvrings and strategies."

"And about Beatrice?" Connar read through the files. "Seems that the heads running this con weren't happy about me stealing their secrets."

"So that's who hacked my tablet." Natalia looked down at her device.

"How did you know about that when I had it?"

"Leon was still longed in and followed the data transfer. My tablet is connected to the panoticon systems, when the higher ups data was stole they were able to find it quickly and take it back. Seems like Gene was watching to catch the data mid-transfer."

"Okay can someone fill me in?" Mattias was feeling felt out as the other knew what was going on. "Why is Beatrice so important?"

"The data was send almost an hour ago." Connar put the pieces together, his hands shook as the truth came together and he started to panic.

Sirens blared through the lab and Perce's voice echoed with it. "Help, help! We're under attack from Hourai!"

"No..." Connar drew his sword and launched a will'o beam at the door to blow it open. "No, no no!" Connar ran out of the lab.

"Connar!" Elfriede chased after him. Uwe ran after his daughter, Natalia looked to Mattias and followed.

"Connar what is it!?" Elfriede followed in Connar's footsteps.

Connar set his katana a blaze and cut down another door. "He's here! Abel's here!" Another door stood in his way and he blasted it to bits with his blade, now coated in will'o. _"That bastard touches her I'll turn him into salsa!"_

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	94. Taken

Chapter. 94

Alice and Leon hung out in one of the cell blocks with Beatrice as she told them about her time spent tinkering with machines.

"Thank you both for your time, it's fun to speak with someone who also has an interest in machines and devices."

"Well, I got to know some of this stuff to help keep Leon here running."

Leon ruffled Alice hair. "And you do a fine job of it as well."

Suddenly a wall to the outside blow up and debris crushed sinners and accessories. Leon shielded Beatrice as Alice super charged her thorn to create a thorn thicket.

A sinner struggled to reach for his gun. "Retribution?!"

"Oh, don't be so dramatic." The smoke cleared to reveal Abel and Red Rage. Abel stomped on the sinner's head to silence them. "It's merely a lone visitor. One who would rather you did not liken him to those petty plunders from On High."

"Get down!" Leon pulled Beatrice down as Alice drew her spear.

Sinners flooded into the cell block to just as Abel looked around himself to see everyone who died as he made his entrance.

The sinner with gun to aim but backed away as Red Rage's miniguns began to turn. "Do not be so quick to rush to your deaths, little one!" Abel turned to the sinners and looks up to the higher railing levels. "Those of you cowering in the shadows may remain where you are!"

_"What is he up too?"_ Alice reached for her will'o case to draw her assault rifle.

Abel held up his arm and pointed to the ceiling, everyone froze. "I have one simple request. Being me the girl they call Beatrice! You have three minutes!"

"What!" Alice drew her gun and pointed pointed it at Abel till Leon grabbed her arms.

"Don't! Not here."

"I'm not giving him Beatrice!"

"If we don't he'll kill everyone in this cell block, maybe even the panopticon. We need to see what he wants."

As Alice and Leon fought Beatrice drew her laser pistol and leaped down.

"I only hope she wasn't harmed during my... Grand entrance." Abel spun his blade and rested it on his shoulder. He heard footsteps and saw Beatrice approaching him.

"Beatrice!"

"Alice!" Leon struggled to keep Alice from chasing after her.

"Ah, Beatrice, I presume."

"What do you want with me?" Beatrice held her gun up to Abel.

"An excellent question!" Abel looked back up to the higher railing. "Alice!" Alice and Leon stopped as Abel called out to her. "Have you gotten better since we last met?!"

Alice grabbed the railing to jump over but Red Rage fired a missile near her. Tell Alice to stay put. "I'd love to see but that's not why I'm here. Now then." Abel returned his focus to Beatrice. "I have a favor to ask, it is a simple task, but one that only you can help me with."

"What could I possibly be able to help you with?"

Abel knocked Beatrice's gun out of her hand and held his katana to her neck. "Do not toy with me girl... Or do you really not know?"

"Get away from her!" Alice hurled her spear at Abel.

Abel stepped out of the way letting the spear hit the floor between him and Beatrice. Abel smirked as if unfazed by the attack. "One thing's for certain. You and I have a few things to discuss. But alas..."

A sinner took aim at Abel with a sinner rifle. Abel looked to the sinner and Red Rage leaped in between them and fired its minigun at him.

"It seems we cannot get a moment's peace."

Beatrice stepped back and Red rage jumped behind her to cut her off. Abel grabbed Beatrice by the arm and pulled her close. "How about we... Take this back to my place?"

Alice jumped down to the ground level and used her thorn to get her spear back. Abel grinned and pushed Beatrice to Red Rage. The machine picked up the girl and placed her in its will'o pod, freezing her in gold will'o.

Alice's body glowed with will'o as she dashed towards Abel. "Give her back!"

Abel swung his sword to clash against Alice's spear. "Can't do that, I need her for something."

"And what would this 'something' be, huh?"

"Just wait a while longer and you'll see." Abel swung his sword to his right and sidestepped Alice as she stumbled. "Was really looking to our next spar, Alice!" Abel grappled to Red Rage as the machine climbed through the hole it made to leave.

"You're not getting away!" Alice watched Abel's abductor slide down the side of the panopticon. She jumped out and slid down as well to give chase. "Connar's counting on me. I can't fail!" Alice took out her flare knife and struke it into the panopticon's outer wall to slow her dissent as she called for her tiger abductor.

Red Rage reached the ground and began to run, Abel saw Alice's abductor run past them at catch Alice. "You're not taking Beatrice!" Alice drew his assault rifle and opened fire.

Each bullet that hit Red Rage's back exploded with will'o. Abel fell off of Red Rage's shoulder and land on the robot's hand. Red Rage turned to Alice as its minigun warmed up.

The tiger abductor leaped a side to hide behind a destroyed building to evade the incoming bullets. The tiger climbed up the side of the building and reached the top, once there the tiger jumped at Red Rage.

Abel smirked at Alice's attempt to stop him. Red Rage fired missiles up at that falling abductor. The missiles crashed into the tiger abductor and destroyed its front left leg along with heavily damaging its will'o pod.

The robotic tiger landed on Red Rage and pushed it to the ground, swinging its right claw at Abel. Abel blocked with his katana but the force of the attack still threw him off.

The tiger climbed off of Red rage and Alice jumped down to its will'o pod. "Hang on Beatrice!" Alice stabbed her flare knife at the will'o pod but the blade wouldn't pierce the machine.

"Come on, come on!" Alice channeled her will'o into the knife but even that wouldn't work.

Red Rage raised its hand to grab Alice and hurl her into a building.

The tiger abductor lunged at Abel to retaliate for attacking Alice. Abel slid under the machine as it flew at where he stood. The tiger turned around and Red Rage punched it in the head then grabbed it by the neck.

Red Rage reeled its arm back and rapidly punched the tiger in the back until it broke. Red Rage threw the machine and fired two dozen missiles to completely destroy the abductor.

"With that out of the way." Abel climbed back onto his machine's shoulder. "Just be patience and you'll see what I have in store for everyone of this world!" Abel laughed as red Rage carried him and Beatrice away.

Alice climbed out of the rubble and saw her abductor in ruin. She ran to her abductor and found its head was still intact. "It's okay, we'll get you fixed." Alice held the tiger head and slowly pet it as the light faded from its eyes.

...

From the hole left in the panopticon Connar watched as Abel got away with Beatrice. Will'o swelled churned around him from his anger. Anger towards Abel from taking Beatrice right from under him. Anger towards Alice for letting Abel get away. Anger at himself for failing to protecting the only person he'd call family.

"Connar!"

The thief turned around to find Elfriede at his side, seeing his closest friend caused his anger to melt away and his will'o aura faded.

"We'll get her back, I promise."

Connar looked down at his sword. "And made that devil pay."

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	95. The aftermath

Chapter. 95

"Give me a sit-rep!" Natalia ordered to the sinners, they scattered around the cell block to check with everyone still alive. As the sinners did as they were ordered Natalia noticed Connar still standing by the hole to the outside. "Connar did you not-"

Natalia approached Connar, when she stood behind him the fallen extended his wrist blade and held it an inch to her throat. Connar didn't even look at her.

"I know you're concerned about Beatrice but we need to know where we stand." Connar retracted his blade and left to check with everyone. Natalia felt a chill run down her back. _"If he's this upset now, what will happen when he faces Abel?"_

Connar found Mattias speaking with a citizen that survived the attack. "Hey man. You have any idea where we might find a sinner by the name of Beatrice?"

The citizen scoffed at Mattias question. "Do you really think I bother keeping track of each and every one of you scum!?"

Connar drew his sword and set it ablaze, plunging the weapon into the wall beside the citizen's head. "Answer the question." Connar spoke with no emotion in his voice as his sword melted the wall.

The citizen fell to the ground in shock, Connar sheathed his katana then glanced Mattias. "He's all your now." Connar walked away to check on Elfriede.

"Give us a status report, sinner." Elfriede spoke to a sinner panicking on the ground.

"Who? Heh... Whatever it was, it wasn't h-human, that's for s-sure. It was some kind of m-monster... A monster in a m-man's skin."

Connar shook his head. "We won't get anything out of her."

"Everyone's just too shaken up. Abel... That guy have quite the impact."

"He was just one g-guy, but there was nothing we could do to s-stop him... N-nothing!"

Elfriede kneeled down and patted the sinner's shoulder. "Come on! Stay with me, sinner!"

"He's just one guy... With an invincible abductor. Take that away and he'll die like anyone else." Connar walked across the cell block to find Uwe also speaking to a shaken sinner.

"Hey, you okay?"

"He just saw Abel kill several people, what do you think." Connar stood beside Uwe.

"It was that d-damned A-Abel... He c-came outta nowhere... He's taken the g-girl..."

Uwe shook his head and snapped his fingers. "Gah! We were too goddamned late..."

"Everyone, gather around!" Shouted Nataila. Connar, Uwe, Elfriede, Mattias, and Julien formed a circle with the officer.

Mattias was the first to speak up. "If we go after him now, we can still catch him!"

"And do what? We still can't harm his Red Rage!" Countered Connar.

"But that bastard has Beatrice, your cousin! Don't you care?"

Connar drew his sword and held to tip of his blade to Mattias' for head. "I'm not blind to the situation, and don't you even question how I feel."

"He's right." Natalia sighed, realizing what she just said. "Hourai already have the casket and the key that will open it, Beatrice. It was opening the casket that caused the great loss which wiped out Arcadia. If the Hourians find a way to bend that destructive power to their will, the world is theirs for the taking."

Natalia looked around the cell block to everyone around her. "And it's safe to assume that we would be first in the firing line. We must stop them before that can happen."

"But how are we supposed to fight that freak?" Asked Elfriede.

Natalia give a slight nod. "We have a plan. Don't we, Julien?"

"Yes. Beatrice and I have been researching a way to get past Red Rage's defenses. It's going to take me a little longer to finish it now she's gone, but I'll have to figure it out soon."

Mattias threw out his hands. "So that's what you two have been up to lately, huh? Then I guess we got no choice but to trust in the nerd squad!"

"Get back to your cells and wait for the word from Julien. And don't let me hear about any of you trying anything... Heroic. Connar." The thief rested his hand on the hilt of his sheathed katana. "Dismiss!"

...

Alice sat beside her broken abductor, holding its head in her lap. Leon found Alice and stood beside her.

"Alice..."

"I make him pay for this." An aura formed over Alice as she laid down her abductor's head. "He takes everything for us, everything! Our lives, our home, and now Beatrice, my abductor."

"Alice?"

The fallen drew her spear. "I'm gonna kill him... I'm gonna kill him!"

Leon grabbed Alice's by the shoulder. "And do what? You'll have to go through his Red Rage."

"He's right." The two turned to see Carlos walking towards them. "What is you plan, huh? If it's to die I'd say that's pretty bad one."

"Then what do we do?!" The aura around Alice grew stronger.

"Wait for the eggheads to come up with something, it'll be ready soon."

"How do you know that?" The aura around Alice started to die down.

"Natalia told us, she gave out an order to wait for a countermeasure to finish to fight Red Rage."

Leon scanned the panopticon network to confirm Carlos' words. "He's correct. We're to return to our cells for now."

The aura around Alice faded away completely and she sheathed her spear into her will'o case. "Okay." Alice walked up to Carlos and kissed his cheek. "Thank you for coming by, I don't know what I would've done."

"If you still upset about you abductor, don't be. It's a machine and machines can be fixed."

"It's still makes me mad about what he did."

Carlos ruffled her hair. "I know." Alice snickered and walked away, Leon looked at Carlos for a momnet then gave a nod before chasing after Alice. Alone, Carlos took out a mini tablet from his pocket, typing the word 'soon' on it then put it back.

...

Connar paced in his cell, unable to sit still. Needing to burn off his frustration Connar drew his katana and cut a rift to the immaterial plane and leaped through. In the immaterial plane Connar ran down to the warren, he stood in the plaza and swung his weapon to hurl a burst of will'o at the base of a building.

The building came crashing down but Connar didn't feel the least bit better. With his katana set a blazed he swung the weapon to throw a large flame at another building and watched a part of it began to melt.

The air rippled as Aries appeared. "It's finally happening! The wheels are in motion at last!"

"Not in the mood Aries." The flames over Connar's weapon changed to pure lightning.

"I did want you to be a little better prepared, but-" Lighting flashed by Aries head and crashed into another building.

"I'm not in the mood. So unless you have a way to destroy Red Rage, I don't want to hear it."

"And you think just swinging your sword around here will help?"

Connar swung his katana as he turned to Aries, will'o flew off the blade and leveled another building. "Then what do you expect from me?!" An aura formed around Connar as cracks formed in the air. "I have all this power and I couldn't do anything to keep Beatrice safe!"

Connar please, you need to calm down-"

"Calm down!? You expect me to calm down!?" More cracks from around them as Connar's will'o spiked. "How can I calm down!?"

"You're breaking the borders again!"

Connar swung his katana up into the air to launch a burst of thunder. "Fine." The will'o faded as Connar took a breath.

"You need to relax and keep focused, the answer will come to you soon."

"Until then I'll keep my skills shape."

"Now, go and get the casket and the key. Simeon's waiting for you, you know?" Aries pulled her hat down and disappeared.

Connar went back to his practicing his swordsmanship for an hour before returning to his cell.

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	96. Plans and heart to hearts

Chapter. 96

Connar awoke in his cell to his accessory's message. "Incoming message from sinner Mattias Bruno. Subject requests rendezvous-"

Connar didn't listen to the rest of the message as he pushed the machine aside to step out.

Out in the cell Mattias was waiting off Connar. "You're up? Cool. Julien sent us a message. Let's go meet him at his lab!" Connar only nodded and took off running. "Hey wait!" Mattias ran after him.

The sinner dashed through

The two arrived in Julien's lab to find everyone arriving as well. Julien looked around the room to see it filled with people and nods. "If we're all here, I'll get started. There's a little something I'd like to show you all."

"You found a way to destroy Red Rage yet?" Connar rested his right and on his katana's hilt.

"Beatrice and I put our heads together, and we've come up with something that just might give us a chance."

"Well? Not leave us waiting in the wings." Said Elfriede.

"Well, the main problem with going up against Red Rage is its damage neutralization system. If you don't do something to get around it, you're not going to stand a chance." Julien looked to his walls, covered in writing. "Red Rage's carapace is surrounded by a special molecular will'o field known as an armitage condensate."

"How does it work?" Connar looked at the wall, he didn't understand most of it but was willing to trust Julien.

"The condensate is made up of countless pockets in space-time, forming a structure with negative pressure and density. In other works, anything attempting to pass through it will never make it to the other side. Are you following things so far?" Julien looked to everyone.

Mattias and Alice were completely lost as Carlos didn't seem to care, while the others seemed to be following along.

"Okay... Well, all you need to remember really is that Red Rage can't be damaged by any ordinary means."

Carlos threw out his hands. "So if we can't disable this field, we might as well be trying to fight thin air?"

Uwe nodded and folded his arms. "This is all very interesting, Julien, but we don't have time to wait for you to solve your little science problem."

"Ditto." Commented Connar.

"Oh, it's already solved. Look." Julien held out his tablet to show everyone his design."

Elfriede placed her hands on her hips. "It's... a module?"

"It certainly is! Beatrice introduced me to some theories from On High which help explain how time passes within the field, and we managed to come up with this. If you equip this module, the will'o in your weapons will resonate at exactly the same frequency as the field generated by Red Rage's damage neutralization system"

Mattias scratched his head, trying to understand. "Dude, in english?"

"Oh for..." Connar rubbed the left side of his forehead. "Just equip it and you can hurt Red Rage. All you need to know."

"Really? This is some red hot shaz! Julien you're amazing, dude!"

"Heh. I really had very little to do with it. It was all down to Beatrice, really."

"And that research will go to saving Beatrice." Alice smiled at the irony.

"There's just one problem, though..."

"When is there not?" Uwe remarked.

"I don't have enough resources to make them all."

Natalia turns to the sinners. "Then we'll just have to get you what you need. There's no shortage of capable resource collectors here."

"Great. I've made a list of everything I need. Bring the stuff to me once you got it all." Julien handed a paper to everyone, listing what he needed.

Connar scanned the list. "Some of these things are from a spider abductor. I'll take care of that."

I'll go too." Said Elfriede.

Alice looked through it as well. "I'll get the things from the cell garden."

"I might as well go too." Carlos sighed as he commented.

"Then it's settled, everyone! Dismissed!" The lab emptied at Natalia's order.

...

As the transport drove through the city ruins Elfriede watched Connar as he looked over his katana, making sure his blade was sharp.

"You really like that weapon."

Connar smiled and sheathed the weapon. "Why not? It's a good katana."

"Are you ever going to tell me where you got that thing?" Elfriede's voice held a hint of distrust.

"When we stop I'll tell you everything." The transport stopped suddenly at the sound of grinding metal. The two were thrown to the floor and the transport door was ripped opened by a spider abductor.

"Damn it!" Connar drew his assault rifle and opened fire on the abductor. The will'o infused bullets detonated on impact with the machine, forcing it to retreat.

Connar stood up and drew katana and swung it down to create a rift. "Come on!" Connar grabbed Elfriede by her hand and pulled her in.

On the other side of the rift Connar sheathed his blade and held his hand over the rift to close it. The spider abductor reached one of its legs into the rift and was severed as it was shut.

"Okay, that was heart pounding."

Elfriede stood up and looked around, they were in the the factory plant but everything had a purple tint. "Wha, what's, where...?"

Connar snickered and placed his hands on his hips, mirroring Elfriede's usual stance. "Yeah that was my first reaction too. Welcome to the immaterial plane a realm between life and death. A very calming place to come to and catch your breath."

Elfriede was still in disbelief over what she was seeing, Connar lead Elfriede to a stack of pipes to use as seats. "It all started when I was born in On High..." Connar told his story to Elfriede, not sparing any details. Elfriede sat and listened to his story, asking questions along the way.

When Connar finished he passed a concerned glance to Elfriede, as she was processing the new information was afraid of what she was going to do.

"You're something else Connar, you know that?"

"In a good way, or..."

"I mean that as in how are you still sane after everything you've been through?"

"I don't go it alone, that's how." Connar reached his hand for Elfriede's but was hesitant and stopped as it hover over hers.

"Is that why you hang around Alice so much?"

"She's been here too, she's a fallen like me so I can talk to her about this sort of thing." Connar held out his hand which glowed will'o.

"And I haven't done anything to help?"

"No I-"

"You want Alice don't you?"

"No!" Connar stood up and leaned closer to Elfriede. "Alice just helped he understand my powers, that's it. Every time I was down or hurt, or alone I came to you Elfy. I don't want anyone but you Elfy."

Elfriede pushed Connar back so she could stand as well. "Talk is cheap."

Connar pulled out of his jacket the silver locket. "Beatrice kept this for me when I was being controlled by Devaja." Connar took off his neckless and placed the gold coin into the locket. "I don't want anyone else but you Elfriede."

Elfriede looked at the locked Conar held out to her. "But why me?"

"I told you, you're beautiful, charming, a little crazy, and always exciting."

Elfriede punched Connar in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him. "You want us to be together? Then you better start acting like it. Something or someone trying to get you, you better tell me first."

Connar took short breaths to taking in needed air. "Deal."

Elfriede smirked as she took her usual pose. "For a guy with supernatural power you go down easily."

"I'm still human Elfy. I'm harder to kill but I can still be killed."

"Then you better take that advice to heart." Elfriede grabbed the locket from Connar's hand and opened it, removing the rings inside to look at the photo of their younger selves. "Hard to believe we were like this once."

"It's like a life time ago."

"You have such pretty brown eyes."

Connar looked away. "Sorry I lost them."

Elfriede placed her hand on the side of Connar's face and redirected it to her. "Hey now, the glowing blue eyes are starting to grow on me." Elfriede put the rings back into the locket then closed it, giving the gold coin back to Connar. "I'll hold on to this, since you don't have anyone better to give it too."

Connar put the neckless back as Elfriede did the same with the locket. "Now how do we get out of here?"

"The same way we got in." Connar drew his sword and then leaned closer to Elfriede to to kiss her. "You really for a fight?"

Elfriede grabbed Connar by his shrit and pulled him closer for a longer kiss. "You say that as if it's a question."

"Of course." Connar stepped back then raised his katana to cut a rift.

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	97. Coupling

Chapter. 97

The rift opened, letting Connar and Elfriede returned to the real world were two spider abductors were waiting for them.

Connar charged his thorn with will'o then punched the ground to create a thorn wall. Elfriede drew her minigun and hid behind the thorns as it revved to life.

The thief looked at his hand and it shined with will'o. "Let me try something." Connar laid his hand on Elfriede's minigun, the weapon shined with will'o as Elfriede opened fire. Each bullet was coated in will'o and detonated on impact with the spider abductor.

The abductor's front legs were destroyed and its body soon followed. "Well, that was cool." The second spider came sliding around the remains of it partner. Connar swung his sword to hurl ice at its legs to hold it in place.

As Connar took his hand off the minigun, Elfriede's weapon lost its glow and its bullets returned to normal. Elfriede fired on the trapped abductor regardless as Connar drew his assault rifle and joined Elfriede in shooting down the machine.

The machine launched missiles into the air that turned towards the sinners. Connar and Elfriede threw their thorns to pry off a leg from the destroyed abductor and dragged it to them to act as a shield.

The missiles crashed into the metal shield and destroyed it, Connar ran through the smoke and leap at the spider abductor. He raised his sword as it sparked with electricity and lunged it into the spider's head.

The robot's body exploded and fell apart, Connar pulled his sword out and sheathed it as he jumped off. "We got what we came for, time to head back."

"Not quite." Elfriede to a group of sinner making their way to them. She put away her minigun and extended her hidden blades. "You ready?"

Connar extended his own hidden blades as well. "You say that as if it's a question."

The sinner drew their guns and opened fire, Connar created thorn wall to protect himself and Elfriede. The sinners switched to their close range weapons and ran to attack.

Connar sidestepped a sinner with a short sword and stabbed them in the neck, as he shoved them down. A sinner with a concrete hammer raised his weapon to crush Elfriede, the girl stepped back to evade the weapon then walked on it to stab the sinner in the eye.

Two sinners ran towards them with great swords held their weapons over their shoulders. Connar and Elfriede glanced to each other then ran to meet them.

Connar ran ahead of Elfriede, the sinners swung their blades to decapitated Connar. Connar dove between them and as their blades were down Elfriede stabbed both of them in the throat with her blades.

More sinners charged the pair armed with spears, Connar retracted his blades and held his hand over his sword. When the sinner was upon him Connar pressed the trigger on his sheath, the sword launched out of its sheath. The thief grabbed a hold of his weapon and sliced the sinner in half.

Another sinner rushed him with their spear, with his sword over his head Connar held his weapon with hands and kicked the sinner in the stomach. "You die, now!" Connar swung his katana downward, splitting the sinner in half.

Elfriede retracted her blades and put on her brass knuckles, she struke a sinners spear with a uppercut then punched the in the face. Another sinner came from the side, holding their spear to impale Elfriede. "You're not ready for me!" Elfriede backhanded away the spear with her brass knuckles the punched the sinner down.

The last sinner kept their distance, he drew a sniper rifle and took aim at Elfriede. Connar saw the sinner and images formed in his mind, remembering when Elfriede was shot. "What are you looking at?!" Connar swung his katana with great force to hurl enough ice at the sinner to freeze them solid.

Elfriede spotted the frozen sinner then turned to Connar as she put away her brass knuckles. "Thanks Connar, that's the last of them."

Connar sheathed his katana and walked towards Elfriede, the thief stopped as stood in front of Elfriede and kissed her. "Does this make us official?"

Elfriede grabbed Connar by his jacket and pulled him close to return the kiss. "You say that as if it's a question."

...

The door to the code seven cell garden opened as Alice and Carlos approached, letting the two inside. The garden was large room full of floating, moving blocks. Moving up and down, left and right. "How are the blocks moving?" Asked Alice.

"Does it really matter? Let's just find what we need and get out. What are we looking for again?"

"An anti-will'o particle." The two stepped onto a block that stopped in front of them, the block carried them to the other side of the garden. "I hope Beatrice is okay."

Carlos shrugged his shoulders. "I think she's find, Abel needs her for something so I doubt he'll kill her." The two got off the block and on to platform. "Hey Alice."

"Yes?"

"Let's just leave this matter with Abel to everyone else and stay out of it."

"What?" Alice felt as if she was slapped in the face. "How can you be so curial? Beatrice needs us!"

"Abel is a tough dude, we fight him we die. Let Connar fight him, guy burned down a panopticon on his own so he should be fine."

"I..."

Carlos rested his hands on Alice's shoulders. "He can run away to my home. We'll have everything we'll need to live."

Alice tilted her head. "But... Your home is gone Abel destroyed Nog."

Carlos let go of Alice and stepped back, taking a deep breath. "To be honest, Nog isn't my real home. It was a cover."

"A cover? You're from another Panopticon."

"No, it's-"

"Are you from a panopticon that's not on friendly terms with ours?"

"Well-"

Alice tackled Carlos and hugged him tightly. "I can understand why you need to keep secrets, but I want you to know that you can honest with me. See, I... I love you."

"What?" Carlos was taken aback by her words.

"You're a good a person, even though everyone thinks your mean or don't care. You only joke to take the edge off of things. And all the time we've spent together has shown how caring you can be." Alice leaned closer to lay her lips on Carlos for a moment. "I know you want me to stay behind because you're concerned about my wellbeing but it's okay. I'm a fallen remember?"

Alice turned away to look for what they came from, she took a few steps before turning back to Carlos. "You coming?"

"Yeah... Just give me minute." Alice smiled warmly as she went on with her search. Carlos took out his tablet again, he typed on the device 'Is it ready'. A minute later he got a reply saying 'it's outside'.

"I think I found it!" Carlos pocketed his tablet and ran to the shouting Alice.

...

Connar and Elfriede rode the transport back to the panopticon, the citizens were retrieving the parts needed to fight against Abel. The couple sat together as the transport carried them back, Elfriede laid her head on Connar's chest as he ran his figures through her hair as he drifted to sleep.

Connar felt the world shifting to the immaterial plane and woke up. Aries appeared before him and chuckled. "Am I interrupting something?"

"When are you not Aries?" Connar greeted with a smirk. "So what do you need, must be important if it can't wait till I'm in my cell."

"There's something I need you to remember, okay?"

"Shot."

"The great loss didn't happen because the casket was opened. It happened because it was opened the wrong way."

"Wonderful."

Aries smiled to Connar. "But you won't make that mistake, though. I've seen enough of you to know that much." Aries waved to Connar. "Alright. See you in front of the casket!"

"Likewise." Connar waved to Aries as the world returned to normal.

! #$%^&amp;*()_+}"?:{

Please review, it keeps us writers going. Till next time CG out. PEACE!


	98. The Assault

Chapter. 98

The following day everyone gathered in the code seven cell block. Natalia looked over the sinners, Connar and Elfriede stood closer than usual while Alice had her arm around Carlos. The sight of Alice whit Carlos made Natalia sick inside but she bit her tongue. She still didn't trust Carlos but if Alice did there had to be some good in him.

"Julien just delivered the finished modules." Natalia tossed one to each of the sinners. "Be aware that these are far from your average modules. They operate entirely independently of your weapons, for one thing. But they're also extremely complex, so you are forbidden to tamper with them in any way."

"Why were we mess with them?" Asked Connar.

"The finer details don't concern you. Just equip them and fight as you normally would."

"Julien got to work fast didn't he?" Alice looked over her module.

"Yes. He's one of the best engineers we have. Thanks to him, we're finally ready. And ahead of schedule too." Natalia pushed up her glasses. "It's time. Orders for an all-out assault on Hourai have been issued. Our unit's objective is clear. Defeat Abel, and prevent him from using casket as a weapon of mass destruction. This will also mean securing and retrieving Beatrice at all costs."

"At all costs." Connar's left hand glowed with will'o.

"You." Natalia points to Connar and Alice. "Our success of failure rests entirely on you two's shoulders. With each encounter with Abel, you both have shown promise in standing up to him."

"No pressure then." Connar smirked as he laid his hand on his katana's hilt then turned to Alice. "Just keep that abductor of his off me, I'll put Abel in the ground."

Natalia nods with a slight grin. "Good. We're counting on you."

Carlos shrugged as he looks at Connar. "Why do you always get the fun jobs? Just for once, Can't you let someone else be the hero? Me, for example..."

"You don't get to choose to be a hero, the role choices you. Or in this case, me." Connar shook his head and smirked. "Besides, if you really want to face Abel I'll gladly step aside."

Alice pressed her body against Carlos' side. "Besides, you're not the hero type Carlos." Carlos grumbled under his breath.

Elfriede rubbed the side of her head as she spoke to Connar. "Don't let the pressure get to you, okay? Just do what you do best." Elfriede held out her fist which Connar bumped with his own.

"Thanks Elfy, I know you got my back."

Uwe crosses his arms. "You got nothing to worry about, kid. You've been rock-solid since day one."

Mattias pats Connar on back. "Yeah, man! As long as the dream team's still standing, ain't nothing gonna stop us getting this shaz done! We're gonna go get back Beatrice back, and whup Abel's butt in the bargain! Right, old pal?"

"Show Abel what a fallen can really do!" Cheered Alice.

"Thank you, everyone." Connar glanced to Leon who gave a grin and a nod.

"Time for one last push. This operation will also serve as your final code exam. You won't get a second chance to prepare for this one, so make sure you're good and ready. The operation is issued, move out!"

The sinners ran to the lift and headed for the transport bay. Once there Natalia spoke up to give more orders. "We'll split into two teams, Alice, you'll lead team one with Carlos, Mattais, and myself. Connar you'll lead team two, with Elfriede and Uwe."

"Yes ma'am!"

"Understood!"

The group separated and entered different transports.

...

The transport drove through the ruins on their way to Hourai. As they approach the panopticon Hourai's abductors attacked. Biped abductors fired missiles at the transports, one of the transports dodged the incoming attack but the other was hit directly.

After the missiles the abductor's guns fired a hail of bullets on the transports. The bullets clanked on the transports, slowly cracking through the armor.

Under the constant fire one of the transports stopped as it burst into flames. The other made it through the assault and crashed into the panopticon.

Inside the panopticon the sinner gathered around the transport with their guns ready, the transport door burst open and Alice leaped out and impaled one of the sinners with her spear.

Carlos and Mattias drew their assault rifles and shot the sinners in the surprise.

With the enemy force down Alice looked around the area. "Where are the others?"

Natalia stepped out of the transport with her sniper rifle in hand, she walked around the transport to see the other as a burning wreckage. "We'll have to go without them."

"What?" Alice felt her legs grow weak as she saw the wreckage.

"Alice!" Shouted Carlos as more sinners came in.

A blade appear out of thin air and cut the sinners in half as a rift opened. Connar jumped out of the rift with Elfriede and Uwe followed him out. "That was a close one. You okay Uwe?"

"That was an experience."

"What the hell dude!" Mattias ran to Connar as he switched to his great sword. "How did you survive? And how did you do that?!"

"We don't really have time for a Q and A right now. It's one of my fallen powers, all you need to know." Connar closed the rift the absorbed one of his will'o packs. "Everyone! Charge!" Connar sliced the door open and ran deeper into the panopticon.

The group entered a hall with three sinners, all armed with spears. Carlos shot one down as Natalia shot another, Uwe used his thorn to pull the third to him and slam their head into the floor.

Two more spear users came in as the fight went on, only to be gunned down by Mattias and Leon.

Connar pushed ahead of everyone and cut down the door stopping them. Connar ran into a large room with three accessories with miniguns, supported by sinners with sniper rifles on ledges on the back wall of the room.

"Everyone stay back!" Connar swung his katana to create a rift and leaped through. The accessories fire their miniguns only for the bullets to go into the rift.

A second rifle opened behind the accessories and Connar came to slash the machines from behind. The snipers aimed at Connar, who launched a sword beam at one while Natalia covered him by shooting the other. Connar closed his rifts and recharged with a will'o pack.

"You really need to tell me how you can do that!" said Mattias.

"Later, when my cousin is safe." Connar straightened up and quickly looked around before dashing through the next door. The sinner pasted glances then followed.

Connar navigated through empty rooms as the other caught up, Elfriede ran ahead of the others to run alongside Connar. "Do you even know where you're going?"

"No idea!"

"Then how do you know this is the right way?"

"Because it's calling, the casket is calling me!"

"What?"

"Alice!" Connar looked over his shoulder. "Do you hear it?"

"I don't know what I'm hearing, but I hear it! It's like a gentle humming!"

"Same here, it has to be the casket!" Connar stopped when a door lead to a narrow hall with chset high walls and a sniper wielding accessory waiting on the other side. The accessory fired at Conar who deflected the bullet with his blade then swung his weapon to throw fire at it. "And if we find the casket, we find Beatrice."

"And Abel." Elfriede placed her hand on Connar's arm. "You ready?"

Will'o glowed around the fallen's hands. "Ready." Connar started running again as the others caught up.

Running through more empty rooms and halls Connar was starting to get an uneasy feeling. "Hey Elfy."

"I noticed too, there's no one here. I don't like it."

"Me neither, It could be trap but we can't stop now."

They found themselves in a large room filled with accessories with mini guns and drones with turret hovering above. "I don't have time for this!" Connar create a rift to stop the incoming fire. "Everyone inside!"

Connar leaped through as everyone followed, landing in the immaterial plane. "Everyone here?"

"Yeah, we're all here!" Alice did a head count to confirm.

"Good." Connar closed his rift and dashed to the other side to cut another.

"What is this?!" Asked Calros as they ran.

"The immaterial plane! I'll tell you later!" Answered Alice.

Everyone returned to the real world just outside of a red door. "This is it!" Connar turned to Uwe. "Uwe!"

"Move!" Uwe fired his rocket launcher to damage the door. "Not enough."

"Try again!" Uwe reloaded and fired again, this time Connar hurled will'o on the door to destroy it. "Beatrice!" Connar didn't wait for the smoke to clear as he ran through.

! #$%^&amp;*()_+}"?:{

Please review, it keeps us writers going. Till next time CG out. PEACE!


	99. The final confrontation

Chapter. 99

Abel stood in a large round arena sinner lay dead around him, cut down by his blade. Abel impaled the last sinner when he heard an explosion.

"Abel!" On instinct Abel pulled his katana out of the sinner and turned with his risen weapon to block Connar's sword. "Where is she!?" Connar's sword sparked with electricity. "Where's Beatrice?!"

The electricity shocked Abel, causing him to step back. Connar didn't let up and continued to attack. "Seems like you got a new weapon." Abel commented as he blocked Connar's attacks.

Connar leaped back and charged will'o into his blade. "And I'm looking to stain it in your blood, now where is she, what have you done with Beatrice, you devil?"

The others entered the arena and saw the bodies that litter the ground.

"WH-what the...? Lover's tiff, huh?" Asked Mattias.

Abel shrugged as he spun his katana into a reverse grip. "This is what happens to those who do not... Share my vision."

"Look!" Natalia pointed to the back of the arena, giant metal doors with wood growing around it, covered in closed blue roses. With Red Rage standing guard of it. "The casket..."

"Yes, the seal is broken..." Abel snapped his fingers to make Red Rage step aside, revealing Beatrice bonded to a metal ring by dark thorns. "Thanks to the ever obliging Beatrice." Abel held his blade to Beatrice.

"NO!" Connar ran towards Abel, with each step the fallen left will'o foot prints that burned through the metal floor.

Abel swung his sword to cut the thorns and freed Beatrice. As she fell Abel caught her and gently laid her down. "I owe you a great deal indeed."

"GET AWAY FROM HER!" Connar swung his sword down to split Abel in half. Abel leap out of the way, as Connar's sword touched the ground the will'o exploded, leaving a medium sized creator.

"Mattias get her out of here!" Ordered Uwe.

"Okay!" Mattias grabbed Beatrice by her arm and pulled her back to the others. "Connar-" An overwhelming force surrounded Connar as Mattias backed away from him.

"Now all we need do is wait for the flowers to bloom." Abel walked to the casket, admiring its sight.

"That doesn't make any sense." Natalia pointed her sniper rifle at Abel. "When the blue roses open, so will the casket. And when that happens, a great loss will take place, and everyone in this panopticon will die."

"Mere details."

"What?" Nataila didn't understand.

"My gift to humanity far outweighs such petty considerations." Abel turned back to the group of sinners. "Tell me, what does mankind need most." Abel walked past Natalia, leaning close to ask her. "Is it freedom?" Abel turns to Mattias. "Friendship? Or maybe..." Abel stopped in front of Beatrice and leaned close, half an inch way from her. "Love?"

Abel smirked as he leaned back to evade a slash from Connar's sword. Connar held his katana to Abel, an aura covered his body as his eyes vanished behind flaring will'o. "Just shut up and die!" Connar run at Abel with his katana at the ready.

Abel blocked the attack and locked his blade with Connar. "What do you think?"

"I think you're gonna die for everything you've done you devil!" Red Rage swung its fist at Connar, to force the fallen to retreat.

Connar struke Abel in the chest with his knee the swung his sword at Red Rage's fist. Fire blanketed the blade as it cut through Red Rage's fingers, the machine pulled back and Connar dashed at Abel. "Get it!" Connar shouted to order his comrades to attack the abductor.

Abel held his katana in front of him, the blade facing Connar. "What humanity needs is conflict!" Connar swung his fire sword from the left, Abel lowered his katana to catch it. "It is only when fighting for his life that man shows true bravery!"

Connar pulled his sword back to try and cut off his head. "True loyalty." Abel rolled under the attack and jumped at Beatrice with his sword overhead. Beatrice raised her arm in panic as Abel land in front of her but his katana was stopped as Connar pulled on it with his thorn. "And yes, true love!"

"Get back here!" Connar pulled Abel towards him and lunged his sword to impale him.

Abel used his thorn to deflect the sword and kicked Connar's arm to unbalance him, freeing his sword. Abel waved his hand and Red Rage began to attack the sinners.

As the abductor's miniguns began to turn Alice and Uwe used their thorns to create walls to hide behind. When the bullets stopped the sinners attacked Red Rage while Connar was going for Abel.

Alice used her will'o to place an aura around everyone to strengthen them. "Take it down!" Alice fired her rifle at Red Rage's missile pod on its shoulder. The bullets connected with the abductor and exploded to damage the machine.

Elfriede grappled to the other missile pod and began cutting it with her wrist blade. Mattias and Carlos fired at the head, ever with their guns empowered Red Rage was barely taking any damage.

"How do we stop this thing?!" Shouted Carlos. The abductor grabbed Carlos and began to crush him.

"No you don't!" Alice jumped onto the machine's arm and stabbed her flare knife into Red Rage's thumb. "Why is it so tough!?"

Red Rage reached for Alice with its other hand, Natalia threw her thorn to keep it from grabbing Alice. Leon grabbed a hold of Natalia's thorn to help pull, not caring that the thorn's spikes were cutting into his hands.

Red Rage swung its hand at Nataila and Leon, the force from pulling on its hand threw them back then the machine threw Carlos at Leon. Alice fell to the ground as well.

Mattias fired at one of the robots miniguns as Uwe shot it with rockets. Red Rage jumped over and over, Elfriede fell off but landed on her feet.

"Dad! Shoot the one I cut!"

"Okay!" Uwe reloaded his rocket launcher and fired where Elfriede took him. Red Rage leaned out of the way then followed with a punch to Mattias.

"This is bad, we're barely making a dent in it!" Natalia drew her sword and grappled to the machine's elbow. Red Rage tried to grab her but Alice jumped in the way.

Alice held up her right arm with her gun to keep it free when Red Rage held her. She pointed her gun at its wrist and fired point blank. Red Rage's hand was blown off and Alice was free but the sleeve of her dress was gone, revealing an arm with mild burns.

"Alice!" Cried Leon.

Alice's arm glowed with will'o as the burns were healed. "I'm fine!" The miniguns on Red Rage started to turn, Alice used her thorn the climb back onto the machine. She grabbed one of the barrels and pulled on it, the minigun started to break apart and back of the gun blow out.

Red Rage swung its arm to get Alice off but then Natalia cut through the arm and it fell apart. Red Rage jumped around then started to run around with any purpose.

"What's it doing?" Asked Carlos Mattias helped him up.

Alice glanced to Connar and Abel as they traded blows. "It's Connar!" Alice rolled out of the way as Red Rage punched at her. "Abel needs to focus to command Red Rage, he can't do that while fighting Connar!" Alice dropped her gun and pulled out her spear, she lunged it into Red Rage's leg and cut it partway through.

Red Rage staggered from the attack, Uwe fired another rocket at the abductor's will'o pod and broke open its shield.

Elfriede's minigun cut through Red Rage's shoulder and broke off its arm, its minigun and missile pod with it. "That should make it easier!" An orange liquid flowed out of its shoulder, forming into an arm.

"That doesn't help!" Shouted Mattias.

"It doesn't have its weapons, so stop whining!" Natalia countered. She used her sniper rifle to shoot at the gel arms but the bullets just passed through.

"Get the will'o pod!" Uwe threw a sticky grenade at the pod as it did little damage. Everyone fired on the pod until Red Rage fired a beam from its head along the ground which followed with an explosion.

Everyone jumped back but were pushed from the blast's force. Alice grappled to the abductor's head and swung her spear into it. "No more of that!" As Alice cut through the machine's neck it raised its gelled hand to her.

Alice raised her spear and stabbed it in the head as Red Rage grabbed her. The robot pulled on Alice as she held on to her spear. "This head is coming off!" Alice drew her flare knife and cut at the neck.

The head snapped off and Red Rage hurled Alice away. In the air Alice spun her body to build up speed and swung her spear, throwing the head back at Red Rage.

The head struke Red Rage into the will'o pod, will'o poured out as the head's horn pierced it. "Now what?!" Alice landed on her feet, ready to fight.

Red Rage placed its gelled hand on its neck and pulled up another head make of the same gel.

"Are you kidding me?!" Asked Uwe.

"Waiting!" Leon noticed the machine was moving slowed then when the fighting started. "It's gel is its will'o! It's running out fast! Shoot it! Anywhere is fine, just bleed it out!"

Everyone drew their guns and fired. Alice reached for her will'o case then remembered she dropped her gun. "If connar can do it." Alice charged will'o into her spear. "Then why can't I?!" Alice raised her spear overhead. "Everyone! MOVE!" The others looked to her and moved aside.

"What are you-" Natalia stopped as the will'o surrounding Alice grew.

Alice swung her spear down and launched a giant will'o blade at Red Rage. The blade cut deep into the robot, spilling its will'o.

...

Abel jumped and front flipped over Connar, the thief threw out his thorn and pulled Abel to the ground. "I said get back here!" Connar and Abel clashed swords in another deadlock, Connar focused his will'o into the red trigger and his sword was engulfed in flames.

The heat of the fire forced Abel to back away. The two held out their swords, pointing at each other, Abel grinned then laughed manically. "I've waited a long time for this!"

The will'o in Connar's eyes flared brighter. "And you're gonna get what you deserve!"

"Now that I think about it, the last time we fought like this."

"You got a lucky hit. It won't happen again."

"You were wild, unforgiving, and had the eyes of a beast."

"Now I'm refined, focused, I have the will of water, and the patience of stone."

Abel laughed. "How poetic."

Connar clinched his hand around his neckless. "Because I have something to fight for. Other than myself."

The two swordsmen rushed each other and locked their blades. "Something or someone?"

"Wouldn't you like to know!"

Connar and Abel's swords echoed throughout the arena as their weapons clashed, sparks and will'o flying everywhere.

"Can't you see? I shall lead mankind into a glorious new era of strife!" Abel swung low to cut at Connar's legs.

Connar hopped over and swung his blade, which Abel leaned back to dodge. "Why are you do this? What's in it for you?"

"On the other side of that door, there are monsters. Unimaginably ancient and ferocious creatures." As Abel swung his sword from the side Connar struke with his katana, sliding his blade along Abel's to evade it then slashed at Abel's side.

Abel spun his blade to counter the push Connar back. "I intend to unleash those creatures. I intend to turn this world..." Abel raised his hand to his face. "Into a living hell!"

"It's already a living hell! All you're doing is making it worse!" A cold wind blew around Connar's blade, he slid the sword along the ground to and ice rolled on the metal floor towards Abel.

Abel stabbed his sword into the ground and a shock-wave of will'o slammed into the ice, shattering it into mist. "I'm glad you're here, I'd thought I die without meeting a worthy challenge!"

Connar lunged at Abel who sidestepped the attack and slashed Connar on the back. Abel raised his sword to cut Connar in half, the fallen held his sword behind to block the attack.

The wound on Connar's back glowed with will'o as it closed. The thief spun around to face Abel then hurled ice at him from his blade.

Connar swung his sword, a cold wind blew with each attack. "You're dying here, not by some other worldly creature but by my hand!"

Abel countered Connar's attacks but the cold was starting to slow him down. "You think you're leaving? We're all gonna die here! You, me, and everyone here!"

The ice around Connar's katana changed to fire, Connar swung his weapon upward to cut off Abel's arm. Abel blocked with his sword, his hand on the back of his blade. Abel's hand was burning from the heat as he struke Connar in the stomach with his knee to back away.

Connar raised his sword and sword it down as he held it with both hands the fire around his blade intensified. Abel's blade was still hot from the fire. He grinned as his spun his weapon. "Did I make you anger?"

"Anger?" Connar's aura grew brighter. "I'm positively livid!" Connar's sword left a trail of fire as he swung at Abel.

Abel watched Connar's attacks as he backed away avoid the flames. As the next attack came Abel Swung his sword upward and knocked the weapon out of Connar's hands.

Connar recovered and spun to strike Abel in the head with his elbow while grabbing Abel's sword and throwing it away.

Abel grabbed Connar by his hair and pulled him to the ground, Connar grabbed Abel by the neck and pulled him down with him. Connar sat up and pushed Abel in the jaw then stood up.

Abel lunged at Connar and tackled him back down, holding Connar by the collar he began punching in the face. After the fourth punch Connar caught Abel's fist and shove him away.

Back on their feet Connar and Abel threw at punched, hitting each other in the side of the head. The two staggered back, Abel recovered first and throw another punch.

Connar blocked with his arm and noticed Abel's arm away then followed with a roundhouse kick. With Abel down Connar leaped back and used his thorn to get Abel's sword as it was closer.

Abel back-rolled to his feet and did the same with Connar's sword. The two hurled their swords at each other, the sinners dodged the swords then grabbed them mid-flight.

Abel threw his thorn at Connar who blocked with his sword. Abel smirked and started to pull, Connar smirked as well as his sword sparked with lightning. Electricity surged through the thorn, shocking Abel. He kneeled down and was breathing hard. Abel held up his sword just in time to block Connar's katana, who immediately kicked Abel in the face.

"Is your dream worth dying for? A world of never ending war. Is it really worth dying for a world for a world you'll never see?"

Abel began to laugh as he climbed to his feet. "You kidding? This is what I live for!" The two reversed their grips on their weapons and clashed, they pressed their arms on the back of their swords to put more focus against each other. "This is where humanity belongs, in the heat of battle!"

"I don't give a damn what you think!"

The sinners separated, switching their grips back to normal then clashed again. "Only the strong survive!" Abel pushed against Connar, making him step back. "The world has shown you that much!"

Connar's will'o aura grew larger, he pushed back against Abel, gaining ground. "That's not for you to decide!"

"We don't fight for good or evil. We just fight!" Abel grinned as he halted Connar's advance. "We're a lot alike that way."

"Rrrraaagggg!" The will'o in Connar's body lashed out to shove Abel away. Connar lowed his sword, glowing with will'o as he breathed hard. "I'm nothing like you..." Connar swung his katana to hurl will'o at Abel.

Abel matched Connar's swing and hurled the will'o from his sword. The two attacks crashed into each other, creating an explosion between them.

The fights swung their blades to throw more will'o at each other. Creating more blasts as they circled each other. "Then tell me! How are we so different?!"

They stopped circling then walked towards each other, hurling will'o until their blades met again. "You wouldn't understand even if I sent you to hell!"

The fights leaped back as Abel laughed. "Then make me understand with your blade Connar!"

_"This is it, one cut."_ Connar thought back to when he cut off a spider abductor's leg as he closed a rift. Then to seeing the dead sinners, cut in half where he opened a rift. _"Only one will'o pack left, gotta make this one count."_ The will'o around Connar's blade turned purple.

Connar and Abel slowly walked towards each other then started to run. Abel pulled his sword back over his sword as Connar held his own at his side. The two stopped and swung their blades, Abel's burned through the air as it burned with will'o, Connar's blade cut through reality as a rift formed.

As their blades met Abel's sword was split as Connar's cut into the immaterial plane. Abel froze as the rift grow until Connar's katana reached his body and cut through Abel.

! #$%^&amp;*()_+}"?:{

**Wow this was tough to get right. The fight I've been dying to get too!**

**As always, please review, it keeps us writers going. Till next time CG out. PEACE!**


	100. The other worldly machine

Chapter. 100

Abel's body split in half as Red Rage crashed to the ground, a pool of will'o grew around the abductor as blood did the same with Abel.

"Darkness... Closing in... Strength... Fading..." Abel coughed up blood as struggled to keep his eyes open.

Connar stood over Abel, he closed the rift then absorbed the energy from his last will'o pack. "You're dream, ends here."

Abel held his hand to where he was severed then then brought up his hand, the blood dropped on his face. "So this... This is the taste of defeat..." Abel coughed up more blood as more from his hand dropping into mouth.

"Doesn't taste good, does it?" Connar sheathed his katana, resting his hand on the hilt. "That's what I've tasted ever since our last fight. Though you're might be a bit more bitter."

Abel laughed as more blood came out of him. "It tastes good!" Abel stabbed his sword into the metal floor and pulled himself up.

"Are you insane!?" Connar stepped back, unsheathing his sword halfway.

"My only regret is that I will not live to taste it again." Abel failed to pull himself and fell on his back. Abel rolled over then crawled towards the casket.

The blue roses were all in bloom and their petals stated to fall. The casket doors began to open as an orange light came from the cracks with embers.

"The casket!" Shouted Natalia.

Abel laughed as he fell to the ground once more, unable to move anymore. "My dream... At last, it is coming true." Abel's eyelids grew heavy as he used the last of his strengh to reach out to the casket. "My brave new world... My beautiful living hell... Gah!"

Connar stabbed Abel through the back. "Do you ever shut up?!"

Abel laughed as he closed his eyes. "But I shall never see it... My time has come... And your will surely follow..." Abel grinned as his life came to an end.

Connar pulled out his sword then was threw back as the casket's doors burst open. A giant machine flew through, it was a large eye with eight engines chained behind it with shutters along the sides of them. At the ends of the engines were chains with prongs at the end of them, acting snake-like.

The machine's engines spread out slightly as a wailing sound came from its eye. Everyone covered their eyes from the ghastly noise.

When it stopped Connar's sword glowed with will'o as he hurled a sword beam at the machine. The attack connected this the machine's eye and it let out another wail, this time not as loud.

"Leon what is this thing?" Asked Alice.

"I don't know, I don't have any data on this abductor! If it is an abductor."

"Okay everyone!" Connar turned around to his comrades. "We've made it this far, we defeat this thing and we go home!"

Mattias was backing away from everyone. "No way! How are we should-"

"You want to leave then go!" Connar's words stopped Mattias and froze everyone. "Go if you're scared, I think I speak for every when I say we all are. But if you think this is bad, we don't how many more are behind that door. If we don't fight, if we don't beat this thing here and now. Then the casket will stay open and more will come, Abel's dream of a living hell will come true because you ran away!"

Connar turned to the machine at is was recovering from Connar's attack. "Now is the time to choice! We can run and let our fear sallow us whole along with our world. Or we fight, face our fears and prove that we're the masters of our fate!"

Everyone formed a circle around Connar, Uwe held up his rocket launcher. "If we don't make it through this, just know that it was a fun ride, and I approve."

Mattias loaded his assault rifle. "I'm not let you have all the glory, the dream team needs its leader!"

Natalia switched to her short sword and stood on Connar right side. "You'll make a great officer when your sentence is over."

Carlos shrugged as he stepped up. "After a speech like that, just this once I think I'll actually try to help."

Alice spun her spear and stood beside Carlos. "There's nine of us here, two of us are fallen. No way are we losing day, not after what we've just done!"

Leon patted Connar on the shoulder as he walked past him. "You've changed a lot since we first met, you have the makings to be a fine leader."

Beatrice stood behind Connar and held her pistol. "I owe you my live, twice over. You've shown me that you can't abandon family."

Elfriede stood beside Connar as she primed her minigun. "Where you go, just know that I'm going too." she gave a wink to Connar. "Can't let anything happen to my fiancée."

"Thank you, everyone." The machine wailed as it was ready to fight. Connar swung his sword as it shined this will'o. "Right, time to save the world!"

The machine howled as the shutters flapped wildly. The chains broke off the machine and flew around it, one of them flew straight for Connar.

The thief's blade was set ablaze, Connar stepped to his right and swung his sword into the chained claw, cutting it in half. "Natalia, Beatrice, and Elfy, you get on that thing and cut off the engines! Uwe, rocket that thing's eye! Mattias, Leon, and Carlos, shot those chain snakes down! Alice, cut them apart if they did the ground!"

"What about you?!" Asked Alice.

Connar charged his thorn. "I'm gonna drag that thing down. Everyone! To your poses!" Everyone scattered as Connar commanded.

Elfriede ran to the machine's right side then grappled to its lower right engine. Elfriede extended her wrist blade and started cutting it.

Natalia ran to the robot's left and used her thorn to get to its upper left engine, she stabbed her short sword into engine then pulled on it to cut. Beatrice followed Natalia and threw her thorn to the middle left engine, using her knife to cut into it.

Everyone drew their guns and opened fire on the machine's eye, but a shield covered the machine. Uwe fired a rocket but it did nothing to the shield. "No good, Connar!"

"Let's see how you like this!" Connar hurled fire from his sword at metal panales under the abductor's eyes, the panels began to melt as a purple light shined in the abductor's eyes, lightning sparked from the light.

Leon scanned the light to learn that it was reading an electricity attack. "Connar! It's attacking with lightning!"

"Got it!" Connar held up his sword as it crackled with electricity. The purple glow shattered then converged on Connar's blade. The fallen screamed as thunder ran through his body.

"Connar!" Elfriede jumped off the abductor and ran to him. A chain snake flew low to the ground then came in towards her. Elfriede stopped and put up her fist and a spear hit the snake, pinning it down.

"Go to him!" Alice grabbed her spear and stomped on the chain as she stabbed it some before fight another one.

Elfriede stood over Connar and used her med-kit to heal him. "Connar!" Elfriede helped Connar to his feet. "What were you thinking?!"

"Saving everyone." Lightning crackled over Connar's body then flowed to his sword. "Return to sender!" Connar stepped away from Elfriede then swung his sword to throw a massive blot of electricity at the abductor. The attack shattered the machine's shield and damaged its eye.

The ground force's gunfire now had an effect on it as their broke through the metal. Nataila and Beatrice leaped off the abductor as they finished cutting off two of its engines.

The chain snake started moving faster, even firing lasers at the sinners. Uwe punched one apart and Carlos was able to dodge them but one cut Mattias' along his arm, leaving a large gash.

"We're in a bad way here Connar!" Commented Elfriede.

Connar threw his thorn at the abductor. "You're coming down, now!" Connar pulled on his thorn with all his might but the abductor still won't come down. "I'm not letting you go!" An aura glowed around Connar's body, a ring of will'o formed behind him. "You want a living hell? Then go back to your own world!" Will'o spiraled around Connar's thorn, with one more tug Connar dragged the abductor to the ground.

"Everyone! Kill it!" The sinners drew their weapon and attacked abductor, slashing and bashing the engine. The abductor started floating up again but connar pulled it back down. "I didn't say you could leave!"

The abductor crashed to the ground and the sinner contained their attack on it. The abductor was quickly destroyed under their combined might, the machine exploded, leaving its burning wreckage.

1! ##$#%^&amp;%$&amp;^^&amp;(&amp;*)(_++}"?:{

WHooooOOO 100 chapters, that's a mile stone if I'd ever seen one. Thank you everyone for the support for making it this far, just a little more now. As always read and review, it keeps us writers going. Till next time CG out. PEACE!


	101. Behind the casket

Chapter. 101

"Close the door!" Shouted Natalia as she ran to the casket. Everyone gathered in front of the casket and pushed on the doors to close them.

A creaking was heard and the door were opening again, another machine was coming out.

Connar stepped back from the door and drew his katana, hurling will'o at its eye. "Get out of here!" The machine backed away, letting the sinners close the casket.

"We did it..." Mattias sat down against the casket, out of breath.

Beatrice sighed in relief. "I think we did..." Beatrice started to feel faint then started to fall.

Connar sheathed his sword and caught her. "I got you cousin." His will'o aura faded along with the will'o ring behind him.

"Thank you."

Connar smiled down to Beatrice, he was about to reply when he felt a sharp pain in his back. Connar fell to his knees then down to hands. "What... Was..." Connar fell to the ground. "I... Can't... Move..." The fallen's eyes grew heavy as he lost consciousness.

Beatrice saw a knife glowing with will'o in Connar's back, standing behind him was Carlos hold his spear. "Carlos!"

Carlos swung his spear at Beatrice but was blocked by Mattias' sword. "What the hell are you doing?!" as Carlos was staggered Uwe punched the spear to knock it away.

"Bastard!" Elfriede jumped at Carlos and punched him down.

"Stop it!" Alice grabbed Elfriede and hurled her away. She looked at Carlos with confusion as he stood up. "Carlos why?"

The roof began to shack and crumble, Carlos smiled madly and pointed to the roof. "This." The roof collapsed and a dragon came down, as the dragon landed Sylvia climbed down from it.

"Sylvia!?" Beatrice was kneeled down to pull the knife from his back then used her thorn to heal him."

"You took your time." Carlos scratched his head as he walked towards Sylvia.

"My apologies." Sylvia bowed as she held up a pair of glasses to Carlos.

"Carlos?" Natalia put her thoughts together after her shock. "You were a... For On High?"

"Yup afraid so. Sylvia, take care of this mess, will you?"

"NO!" Alice shouted. "It's not true! It can't be true! Did everything you say... Was it all a lie!?"

Carlos was conflicted, he looked to Sylvia then to Alice. "Not everything. I told you we could leave, and we still can." Carlos held out his hand. "You come with me to On High and everyone here can go home."

"What!?" Natalia held up her sniper rifle and the dragon roared at her.

"You think you can still fight after your last two battles? This is the only way Alice, drop your weapons and come over here."

Alice tossed her spear aside then took off her will'o case, throwing it aside as well. "Alice!" Leon and Natalia took a step and the dragon breathed fire to make them back away.

Alice stood in front of Carlos, the two stared at each other's eyes. "I'm here."

Carlos grinned. "So you are." Carlos drew another glowing knife and stabbed Alice. "Kill them!" Alice fell into Carlos' arms as her went numb.

Natalia and Leon ran towards Carlos when Sylvia stood in their way with her spear pointed towards them. "It is time to keep my promise." Sylvia spun her spear as she got into a fighting stance. "I will crush you, spit on you, and grind you into the dirt!"

Sylvia took off in a dead run to fight everyone when the world turned purple and began to slow down.

Connar opened his eyes to the fight unfold. "Why can't I move?" Connar felt hands on the sides of his head as it was turned to look up at the sky, where Aries looked down at him.

"Well, we promised to meet in front of the casket... And here we are." Aries leaned closer and kissed Connar on the forehead.

The color returned to Connar's body and the casket opened. Connar could move again and jumped to his feet. "This is actually the real entrance, you know." The casket fully opened, a pink mist flowed out, blocking what laid behind it. "The door that'll lead you to Simeon."

Connar looked to the door then turned to the fight. "First things first."

The fallen took a hold of his sword when Aries grabbed his arm. "I understand... You wish you could help your friends, right?"

"Wish? I took down Sylvia twice, with and without her dragon. This will end the same."

"Are you willing to kill you cousin?" Aries could feel the hesitation in Connar's movement as he tightened his hold on his katana. "Then come with me and see Simeon. He can make wishes come true, you won't have to kill her."

Connar and Aries looked at each other. The fallen glanced to the fighting again then down to Beatrice. "I'll be back, I swear it." Connar ran into the casket with Aries right behind.

Passing through the casket Connar and Aries were in a realm engulfed in flames. The land was littered in burning building and abductor impaled with large spears.

"Well, here we are. Welcome to limbo, hey!" Connar didn't stop and kept running through the burning land to the door of light in front of him. "This is where things the world isn't ready to know about yet wait for their time of awakening!" Aries ran alongside Connar, passing by the abductors.

"Any of them going to start moving?"

"Oh, don't worry about them. Time doesn't pass in the same way here as it does on the outside."

"Still, we can't stop!" Connar grabbed Aries's hand as he kept running.

As they ran Aries pulled down her hat to cover her face. "I can see why Elfriede likes you."

Connar and Aries pasted through the light and into another world. The realm looked that same as the last but inserted of fire everything was in a tint of teal, the same color as will'o. Connar noticed the crystals floating in the air around more abductors without spears through them.

"He's been waiting a long time, you know. Waiting for someone who deserves to bring about the great transformation. Someone worth of his power, to be a god."

"You can't just give that type of power to anyone, right?" Connar looked back to Aries and grinned lightly.

Aries returned his smile. "The great transformation is his dream, you see."

"Why can't he just make it himself then?" Connar and Aries pasted through the next door of light. The realm was an endless void with only the path to the next door of light. All around them was a grey mist which cleared in places to reveal dark emptiness.

"You see soon enough. You're the one who's been chosen to make Simoen's dream a reality."

"Then let's keep going!"

Aries nods as she runs behind Connar. "That's what I like about you. You'll keep pushing on, just like you always do... just like humans always do."

"Thanks, I think..."

"I knew you'd come! I always had faith in you!"

"Even when I lost myself?"

"Even more so then!"

The two ran through the door into the next realm. Connar stopped as he was blinded by light, when it died down he was massive hall of white and grey. Ahead of him were a row of black bars too far apart to stop anyone. In front of the bars was a man in a white suit and sand colored hair that Connar knew too well.

Behind the bars were a man sitting in a large oval chair, he wore an ash colored suit with a scarf around his neck covered in thorns, he had messy light brown hair and yellow eyes.

Aries walked between the bars and pasted through an invisible barrier that stopped Connar from following. Aries stood behind the chair then leaned her arms on it.

"My dear mortal. How good of you to come." The man behind the bars spoke in a calm voice. "Your dreams are welcome here."

"Uncle Cesare?" Connar asked as he approached the man in the white suit.

"Connar?" Cesare leaned closer to look at Connar. "It's really you. You've, gah!"

Connar punched Cesare in the chest and stepped back as he fell to his knees. "That's for leaving you family behind, bastard." Connar stood in front of the man in the oval chair. "Sorry about that. You Simeon?"

The man nods. "Yes, I am."

"I'm Connar. Cool scarf."

"Thank you." Simeon holds out two fingers to Connar. "I have two gifts for you. Cesare?"

"Y-yes master." Cesare stood up while holding his chest, his other hand raised up.

A light formed and particles fell from it, form into a spear. "This is the first. A weapon that draws its power from human emotion." The spear was sliver this vines wrapped around the end that split into an opening then reconnected to form the tip of the spear than glowed red.

"Use it to put an end to the sister's' quarrel." As the spear moved to Connar's hand the circle below the head of the spear ignited with fire.

"This is the second gift." Cesare held out his hand to Connar and a small blue light formed, in his hand was a tiny casket with green flames around it. "A casket seed. Use it to create a door to reach this world again."

Connar took the seed, the green will'o flowed along his arm then engulfed his body for a moment before the flames faded away. Simeon leaned forward with his hands together. "Come back and visit us again, dear mortal. We shall talk when things are... calmer..." Simeon waved good bye with light smile.

"Thank you, I'll be back in a bit!" Connar pocketed the casket seed as he ran to the real world.

Once Connar was gone Simeon's smile changed to a grim frown. "He's growing faster than I thought. Maybe too fast."

...

Back in the real world the battle had come to an end in Sylvia's victory as everyone laid on the metal floor in pain. Beatrice was the only one left standing, she held out Abel's broken sword to hold back Sylvia's spear as Beatrice stood over Connar's body.

"Farewell... sister." Sylvia let out a small sigh of sadness as she flipped her spear to knock the sword away and shove Beatrice down. Sylvia risen her spear and swung down to finish Beatrice.

Beatrice braced for her end when she heard the sound of metal, she looked up to see Connar standing over her hold a flaming spear to block Sylvia's. "You are... Alive!"

Connar Swung the spear to push Sylvia away the slid the tip of the spear along the ground to hurl fire at her. The dragon roared at Connar, who drew his katana to throw ice on its head to cover it. "Hey Sylvia. Ready for round three?"

Sylvia scowled as she lunged her spear. Connar deflected the spear with his sword then held his own spear to her. "I win." Connar jabbed his spear at Sylvia and a burst of will'o erupted from the spear.

Sylvia's spear was absorbed into Connar's weapon as well as will'o from her and the dragon. Sylvia staggered back as will'o flowed out of her, she looked at Connar's weapon and gasped. "That weapon... It belongs to the... first of the fallen...!"

"What!" Connar pulled the spear back and Sylvia fell, being caught by Beatrice. As Beatrice healed her sister Connar sheathed his sword then slid his spear into his will'o case then dashed to Elfriede. "Elfriede! Come on, open your eyes!" Connar took out a med-kit to heal her.

Elfriede woke up to see Connar. "You feel better?"

"Connar!" Elfriede sat up and hugged him. "You're alive!"

The fallen grinned to her. "Not leaving you behind." Connar helped Elfriede up to her feet. "Come on, we need to get everyone back to their feet.

"Right!" The couple ran to their allies and healed then with med-kit. Once they were all up they gathered around Beatrice as she had Sylvia's head in her lap.

"Anyone what to fill me in?" Asked Mattias.

"Sylvia is better." Answered Connar as he kneeled down beside Beatrice.

Sylvia opened her eyes then sat up, looking around she turned to Beatrice who reached out and hugged her. "Oh, thank goodness!"

"Bea..." Syliva slowly raised her arms to return the hug.

Connar rested his hand on Sylvia's shoulder. "You all better?" Sylvia wrapped her arm around Connar to pull him into the hug. "I'll guess a yes then."

A collective roar was heard and the three rose to their feet. "The retribution will begin soon." Said Sylvia. "This panopticon will be reduced to rubble..." In the sky was a grey cloud with small lights shining in it.

"Gauss their sending everything they got."

"I must return!"

"Where are you going?" Connar grabbed Sylvia by her arm. "You and your dragon are our ride out of here. You mind lending us a hand?"

The dragon flapped its wings and dust rose into the air, everyone covered their eyes as the dragon flew over them and Sylvia jumped onto its head. Beatrice lowered her arms to see her sister holding her hand out to her. With a big smile Beatrice reached out and took it, letting Sylvia pull her up.

"Everyone! On the dragon!" Connar threw his thorn onto the machine and the group followed. Once everyone was on board the dragon took off into the sky.

The abductor carried them away as a rain of dragon and tiger abductors descended on the panopticon.

...

The flight back to home was enjoyed by some, Mattias and Uwe who hung on near the tail were having fun. Others didn't care as their minds were on different matters, Natalia held on closer to the middle with Leon holding on to her as to not fall, both at a loss over losing Alice.

Connar and Elfriede were closer to the front where the neck met the body as Beatrice and Sylvia rode on the dragon's neck just behind the head.

"Now this is going home is style!" Cheered Connar.

Elfriede shook her head. "I swear, you like a child."

"You're telling me this isn't cool?"

"Well..."

Beatrice held on tightly to Sylvia as she commanded the dragon. "Sylvia... Can we be together now?"

Sylvia looked back to her sister. "I'm sorry Bea..."

The dragon flew into some turbulence, making Beatrice hold on tighter. "Sylvia..."

Sylvia raised her hand to Beatrice's and held it. "There is something I must do."

"Huh?"

"And to do it, I must return to On High."

"You're planning on fighting them, count me in!"

Sylvia turned back to Connar and smiled gently. "At least that debt I owe you for that ice cream is now paid."

"HA! Actually that was Alice who did that, wait..."

Connar looked back and didn't see her, or Carlos. "Where is she?! Did we leave Alice behind?!"

"Connar..." Elfriede hesitated for a moment. "Alice is gone. Carlos betrayed us and took her."

"What?"

"Carlos stabbed you in the back with a glowing knife then Sylvia came down and beat us all."

Syliva nodded sadly. "It was a special weapon made to numb a fallen's body, it's the first weapon made to deal with fallen sinners."

"Connar?" Elfriede touched Connar's right arm.

Green flames rose up over his left arm. "As if I need another reason." Connar reached into his pocket and took out the seed. "We'll get her back, we'll bring On high crashing down, and we'll put Carlos' head on a pike."

! #$%^&amp;*()_+}"?:{

Please review, it keeps us writers going. Till next time CG out. PEACE!


	102. Ground work for the future

Final Chapter.

The dragon landed in a secluded part of the warrens to let everyone climb down safely. Beatrice and Connar said their good byes to Syliva as she rode her dragon back to the sky.

In the warren the group was hailed as heroes. Mattais ran to bask in his new glory while Uwe and Elfriede told the story of what really happened.

Natalia and Leon didn't feel like celebrating and returned to the panopticon.

...

The following day Connar laid on his bed as he didn't feel like taking part in the celebrating everyone was still doing. As he closed his eyes he felt the world shift to the immaterial plane and sat up to see Aries. "You did it! Well done you!"

"But we lost Alice, making this a bittersweet victory." Connar held the seed to Aries. "Now what do I do with this?"

"Plant it. To do that and a casket will grow from it. One that only you can use. It's not hard. All you have to do is pop it in the ground and nourish it with our will'o. Cesare made it especially so that the door that grows from it will take you straight to Simeon."

"Okay, so I just feed it my will'o shouldn't be too hard." Connar arm glowed with will'o as he fed the seed. His will'o changed from a blue light to a green flame, Connar dropped the seed as he fell to one knee, breathing heavily. "What was that?"

"Those things need lots and lots of will'o to get them started, more then what's in your body. You need to plant it somewhere with high will'o concentration. And obviously, it has to be somewhere where nobody will find it."

"And you didn't tell me sooner?" Connar searched his jacket to find only two med-kits inside, absorbing what will'o they had.

"I was, but you jumped the gun." Aries patted Connar's shoulder. "Alright, don't keep me waiting, you hear? See you soon!" Aries vanished and the world returned to normal.

A chime echoed in the cell and Percy appeared on Connar's screen. The fallen didn't want to listen to the bear and cut a rift back to the immaterial plane. "Send a message to Elfriede that I want to meet in the warren ASAP." Connar grabbed more will'o packs then jumped through the rift.

...

Connar reappeared in the warren. He sheathed his sword then took out his seed. "Somewhere with lots of will'o and somewhere people can't find it."

"Connar!" The fallen turned and saw Elfriede running towards him. "You sure you should be down here?" Asked Elfriede.

"Yeah. Thank you Elfy, I feel better now. I just have something to do." Connar holds out the seed to show Elfriede. "You know of a place with lots of will'o but it's out of the way?"

"What is that?" Elfriede took the seed to look it over.

"A gateway to a special place in the immaterial plane. Somewhere I can't get to any other way.

"Okay, sorry but I can't think of anything."

"Connar!" Beatrice walked down a ram with Leon at her side. "There you are. Do you... have a moment to spare?"

"Of course Beatrice. What do you need?"

"I wanted to thank you for what you did... For coming to help me... It was... Thank you so, so very much!" Beatrice bowed to Connar. "From the very moment we met, you have been saving me from one crisis or another-"

"Stop it Beatrice." Connar ordered as Beatrice stood up. "I didn't save you so you'd owe me something. I did it because we're family, and family is more important than anything. Without it, what do we have?" connar then turned to Leon. "What can I do for you?"

"I failed to protect Alice, without a sinner an accessory is to have its memory wiped. I used my access to the panopticon systems to change my ownership. From now on, I'm your accessory."

Connar placed his hand on the machine's shoulder. "We'll get her back."

"Please, don't make promises you can't keep."

"Then it's a good thing this isn't a promise. Listen, do you know of a place that's out of the way and with lots of will'o?"

"Why?"

"Because I know someone that can help us, so do you, or not?"

Leon scanned the panopticon systems, he remained silent for a moment then turned to the panopticon lift. "I know of a perfect place, it's in the code one cell block. Follow me." The group walked to the lift and rode it down to the cell block.

As they rode the lift the questioning started up. "Who is this person who can help us?" Asked Efriede.

"His name is Simeon. I met him when I passed out after the fight with Abel, he's the one who gave me that seed and this." Connar drew his spear from his will'o case.

"That that spear you used on Sylvia!" Pointed Beatrice.

"He said it can use the power of human emotion. I knew I had to stop her, but I still didn't want to kill Sylvia, my own cousin. This spear drained the rage from her and took her spear." Beatrice started to giggle to herself. "What's so funny?"

"You know, I realized something about you when you fought at Hourai. I realized that no matter the obstacles are placed in your path, you always manage to overcome them. Even during your fight with Sylvia... When all seemed lost, suddenly, there you were..."

Connar leaded on the wall this arms folded. "It's because of something my parents told me."

What's that?" Asked Elfriede.

"It's easier to just quit but that not what you're here for. You don't just give up halfway, that's not the point. The point is the challenge, the path, the road to victory. If you don't have that then it doesn't mean anything, and if you didn't lose something along the way then you don't deserve it."

Leon then punched the wall and looked to Connar. "Was losing Alice a part of this? Did we have to lose her to stop Abel?"

"We lost her but she isn't gone. Right now we have to keep what's important in mind. We need hope, we need to believe. Believe that's there's something better out there. Because I'll be damned if On High gets to go free for this! And in the end I have the one to stand against them, something they'll never have." The doors opened to let them off the lift and Connar pushed himself of the wall. "I fight for my friends. For everyone close to me, I have to be the shield for those who aren't strong enough."

"You've changed since the time we first met, Connar." Said Leon.

The group exited the lift into a large room with walkways connecting to the center with piles of scrap under them. In the center of the room was.

"Where are we?" Asked Elfriede.

"The lowest sector of the panopticon. Where everything to broken to be used it dumped here." Leon shivered a bit. "To think I'll end up here one day."

Beatrice looked around the area then back to Connar. "You wish to plant the seed... here?"

Connar walked to the center of the area, in the middle he saw the floor was cracked with will'o seeping out. "Elfriede, can I have the seed?"

"Yeah." Elfriede gave the seed to Connar who dropped it into the cracks.

Everyone stepped back was light rose from the cracks and a casket rose with it, a much smaller one then what was in the hourai panopticon.

The world shifted to the immaterial plane again and Aries stood in front of the casket. "Hate to break it to you, but they're not allowed in."

"Are you kidding me?! Beatrice's father is in there! They've been with me throughout this journey for your 'great transformation' and I won't be here if not for everyone."

Aries shook her head sadly. "Sorry. Unless Simeon says so, I can't let anyone else go inside."

"Screw that!" Connar marched to the casket and grabbed the handles.

"No!" Aries reached for Connar's arm but stopped when his body was clocked in will'o. "Simeon isn't-"

"Screw Simeon! If he wants his dream to come true he'll shut up and let me work!" Connar pulled on the handles but the casket wouldn't open.

"You can't open it! Stop this!"

"I can and I will!" The aura around Connar changed to green fire as he planted his foot on one of the doors to pull on the other with both hands. "I'll show you my strength!" The budged open slightly. "This is my life, and I'll do what I want with it!" Connar pulled the door open as the immaterial plane shattered around him, returning Connar to the real world.

Connar swung open the other door then turned to his friends, reveal a wall of blue mist. "You all ready?" Everyone followed Connar inside the casket.

They entered the white hall and walked towards Simeon. Simeon frowned as the group drew closer. "They were supposed to be here."

"Yeah well, I'm supposed to care about what you want. We all have a bad day Simeon."

"That's not how this works mortal."

"I have a name. Cannor Vanith, get it memorized."

"Father?!" Beatrice saw Cesare and ran to him, jumping at the man and wrapping her arms around his neck. "Father! It's you, it's really you!"

"Beatrice..." Cesare raised his arms and held his daughter. "So you followed in my footsteps... I knew you would... It stands to reason that On High is too small to contain your ambition. you are my daughter after all."

"Father, why are you here?"

"I am here to do what must be done. I have no regrets."

Connar glared at Cesare. "Don't you regret leaving your family?"

Cesare held his hand to his chest, remembering the pain Connar left. "Yes... But, this-"

"But nothing! You-"

"Connar!" Beatrice stood between the two. "Please, stop... My father is alive and I got to see him again. That's all I wanted."

"That doesn't excuse what he's done Beatrice. Remember what happen to Sylvia? Him leaving caused her to go mad!"

Cesare hung his head and shook it sadly. "My leaving must have wounded her even more deeply than it did Beatrice. She was so young, after all. There is little I can do for her now, except... It's not my place but allow me to ask you of favor Connar."

"You can ask."

"Please, you must watch over Sylvia for me."

Connar looked away. "Fine, but I won't do it for you. I'll do it because she's my cousin."

"That's enough, thank you."

"You're not coming back?" Asked Beatrice.

"I have... Committed myself to this world. I cannot return." Cesare turned to Simeon. "I must serve the master. We must bring about the great transformation. That is the battle I must fight. Much is expected of you in this regard also, now that you are a part of this as well."

"Father..." Beatrice started to cry as she hugged her father again.

Connar watched Cesare and Beatrice reunite then turned back to Simeon.

Elfriede stood by Connar's side to see Simeon. "This is the guy you were talking about?"

Leon held his chest as he staggered back. "This man... How can a human have this much will'o within them?"

Connar and Simeon stared at each other until Simeon leaned back in his chair, grinning. "Dear Connar. Allow me to ask a question."

"Okay, what?"

"The path you that led you to me has been an arduous one."

"You think?" Connar folded his arms. "That wasn't a question."

"You have overcome many hardships, made many sacrifices. And all for what? Do you fight for your own freedom, or do you fight for your friends?"

"I fight for what's important to me."

Simeon tilted his head. "Interesting. Then allow me to ask another question. Do you truly believe that it's possible for you to get what you want? To protect what's important to you?" Simeon leaned closer. "Do you think that it's possible to keep those you love safe when faced with the ravages of constant war?"

Connar shook his head. "No." Everyone looked at Connar. "I don't think I can protect everyone close to me. I know I can protect them." Connar drew his sword and held it out for Simeon to see. "I'll end this war. I'll fix this world. I'll keep everyone safe. And I'll do it with my sword... Liberation."

Simeon laughed as he laid back in his chair, holding up his head with is hand. "I admire your spirit, Connar." Simeon looked at all of Connar's friends then grinned. "I shall now present you with four paths. You are 'free' to choose whichever you prefer. Whichever path you choose, I shall grant your wish without judgement or complaint."

"Very well." Connar sheathed his katana and nods to show respect.

"What do you have?" Asked Elfriede.

"The first is the path of the warrior. If you yearn for endless conflict, I shall give you the tools to thrive in such a state."

Connar shook his head. "No. To thrive in a world of endless conflict is to embrace Abel's dream, and I didn't kill him to bring about his dream myself."

Simeon nods and smirks. "The second is the path of preservation. Choose it, and I shall grant you rewards that will allow you to live in peace with your companions."

"You mean we won't have to fight anymore?" Beatrice pasted her sight between Connar and Simeon.

"That's right. No more fighting for Connar and the ones close to him."

Connar looked at Beatrice and saw the hope in her eyes. Connar then cast his gaze to the floor. "Sorry Beatrice but I can't take that one either."

"Why not?" Asked Leon. "Isn't a way to stop fighting what you want?"

"If this option was given to me a few months ago, I'd have taken it without another thought." Connar looked at his hands as they glowed with will'o. "But now... I can't just shut away from the world, knowing that many are suffering and I chose to do nothing. I'd never live it down, sorry Beatrice but my answer is no."

"I, I understand. I didn't think of that, I couldn't live with myself if I let everyone suffer as well." Beatrice felt terrible that she was willing to leave the world behind without giving it any thought.

"You've changed Connar." Elfriede patted Connar on the back. "You're become a really strong person. Better than that kid I knew a long time ago."

"Thank you Elfy." Connar ruffled Elfriede's hair.

Simeon nods sightly at the sight of the human before him. "The third is the path of other pasts. It will allow you to tamper with the laws of fate, and resurrect a fallen comrade."

"Ann!" shouted Elfriede and Beatrice quickly looked to Connar.

"No."

"What?!"

"I knew of the butterfly effect, if I do something to fix the past then the present will be ruined in some way. I can't run the risk of a world where we didn't kill Abel." Connar hung his head and closed his eyes. "Sorry Hal, but I can't." The girls wanted to comment but hearing that Abel might not have been defeated stopped them.

"The fourth and final path is the path of alliance." Simeon sat up and looked serious. "My ultimate aim is to bring about the down fall of On high. I believe that in so doing, the madness that infects our world can be brought to an end. If you ally yourself with me, I will give you the power to do battle with On high and succeed." Simeon grinned at Connar. "Well? Which path do you choose?"

Connar laid his hand on the hilt of his sword. "You which one I want. I choice the fourth path, the path of alliance."

Simeon smiled as he leaned back into his chair. "Very well. Then allow me to hand out these gifts." Simeon waved his hand and a light appeared in front of Beatrice forming into a tablet. "This is the gift of unity. Inside is data that will help you unite everyone you fight with. If you can open the lock on it."

"Thank you!" Beatrice looked at the tablet with gleaming eyes.

Simeon smiled then turned to Leon, he waved his hand and a sphere of blue light appeared in front of Leon. "A machine with a human will. For you I give you the gift of humanity. Touch this light and you will shed your machine form and become a human."

"A human?" Lewon stared wishingly at the light before him.

"All the data in you systems will be moved to a tablet, since there's something there you don't want to lose."

Leon quickly reached for the light and it engulfed him. As the light faded Leon held a tablet but everything else seemed unchanged.

"Feel any different?" Asked Elfriede.

Leon held one hand to the side of his head. "I feel... lightheaded. Wait, I can access the panopticon net! I can't scan anything!" Leon moved his hand along his face, slowly feeling his new skin. "I'm... human?"

Connar took the tablet and gave it a look. "So that's what you were hiding."

Simeon then looked to Elfriede. "You wish to be stronger to protect the one you love."

"I..." Elfriede looked down at her feet.

Another light formed and hover in front of Elfriede. "I give you the gift of awakening. Touch this and the will'o with in you will awaken."

"I'll become a fallen, like Connar." Elfriede held her hand close to the light when Connar stopped her.

"Will she be able to control it?" Simeon gives a nod. "You sure you want to do this Elfy? You'll be changed forever."

"I'm sure, besides, I told you I wanted you to tell me if you knew how I could have this power too." Connar stepped back and Elfriede grabbed onto the light. "GAH!" Elfriede screamed as the will'o covered her. The will'o then faded as quickly as it appeared then Elfriede fell.

Connar caught Elfriede and gently kneeled down. "Elfy? Elfy!"

Elfriede slowly opened her eyes, now glowing with the light of will'o. "That hurt more than I thought it would. Did it work?"

"See for yourself." Connar extended his wrist blade and showed Elfriede her eyes in the blades reflection.

"They look just like yours."

Connar smiled warmly. "Now we're a power couple. A will'o power couple." Connar helped Elfriede to her feet.

"May you stride boldly into the future you did not choose." Simeon leaned closer. "Now go. Your struggle is far from over. Show me what you are all capable of."

"I'll come again father." Beatrice hugged her father again.

"Let's go everyone. We have war to start and world to save." Connar turned to the exit and everyone joined him.

"Connar!" The fallen stopped from Simeon's shout and turned to him as a light formed around his neck. When it faded the same scarf as Simeon's rest around Connar's neck but instead of purple it was a dark green. "Thank you for complementing my scarf the last time we met. Feel free to return here anytime, all of you."

Connar ran his along the scarf, careful not to cut his fingers on the thorns. The fabric felt soft and light yet protected is neck from cool air. "Thank you Simeon." Connar grinned as he turned back to leave.

Outside the casket Beatrice took a look at her new tablet, as Leon felt his human hands and Elfriede used the refection of her wrist blades to see the will'o glow in her eyes.

"How do you feel?" Asked Connar.

"I feel... Good. Better than good."

"That's the power talking, I'll show you how to use it later."

"What are we doing now?"

"Going to see the next one to help us."

...

Natalia sat her apartment, staring at a photo of her and Alice. The officer's tear had dried up hours ago. She didn't hear the knock at her door under it starting be strong enough to break the door down. "Go away!" Natalia shouted.

"Natey it's me, Leon!" Natalia stood up and opened the door.

"Hey there." Greeted Connar as he and his group entered. "We came to see you about something."

"I don't want to talk to you or anyone." Natalia didn't want the sinners to fill her home but she didn't have the will to force them out.

Connar looked around the apartment. "So this is your plan? Sit around and feeling sorry for yourself?"

"What would you have me do?!"

"We have plan but we need your help." Connar took a seat on the sofa. "You have control of that Percy thing, right?"

"What do you want with it?"

Connar pointed to Leon. "Our friend here held on to that data you wanted to erase."

"What? Leon you didn't!"

"What is this data?" Asked Beatrice.

"You don't need-"

"The panopticons are all being controlled by On High."

"Connar!" Natalia jumped at Connar but Elfriede stopped frozen when she saw Elfriede's glowing eyes. "Elfriede, you're eyes..."

"Yeah, I'm a fallen too. As you were saying Connar."

"Please don't..." Natalia fell to her knees with her hands over her ears. "Don't, please stop..."

"What's happening?"

Leon kneeled down to Natalia and placed his hand on her shoulder. "I know what you're feeling. You want to keep a hold of what you have believed was true, But we have to face the real truth. I know it's hard, we can go into the other room if you want?"

"No." Natalia stood up and walks to one of her chairs.

Connar shook his head then told Beatrice and Elfriede about On High's connections to the shadowy groups that lead the panopticons. When Connar he looked to the disheartened Natalia. "That's why we need you, we need to show this data to everyone in the con."

"I can't do that, the panopticon would fall into anarchy."

"So you're okay with On high running your life?"

"What choice do we have?" Natalia stood up.

"We can fight." Answered Elfriede. "On high took Alice. You raised that girl as your own daughter and now you're not even willing to anything to save her."

"We can't do anything. On High in unreachable."

Beatrice shook head. "Not true, we can't reach them right now but if we work together we can stop them."

"Exactly." Commented Connar. "First we have to break On high's control over us. Leon can use Percy-"

"Then why did you come to me?" Shouted Natalia, now on the verge of tears.

"If this data gets out there is going to be an uprising, people are going to die. With your help we can cut down on that, save some sinners, citizens, and even officers. Keep the death toll on the one looking to control us. We need as many people alive as we can get if we can stand a chance against On High."

Natalia looked at Connar, she thought about when they first met. He had so much hate in his eyes and only cared for himself, now his eyes glowed this strength and will'o. She looked to Beatrice, who held onto a tablet of her own. Elfriede, now with the eyes of a fallen. Leon, A loyal accessory now willing to break rules.

"As many as..." Natalia sat back down in her seat. "You're planning to start a rebellion."

Connar leaned closer, with a smile that matched Simeon's. "I'm starting a revolution."

..

.

THE END.

! #$%^&amp;*()_+}"?:{}"?:{}"?:{+_)(*&amp;^%$# !

This is the end of book one.

Finally this story took a long time but I loved every moment of it.

I'd like to thank everyone for sticking with me on this story and giving me the drive to keep going.

...

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And all the guest reviews.

Thank you everyone, for now this is CosmicGuardian signing out. See you in the cosmos!


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